Millions of Americans will enjoy the day off on Thursday while still collecting a paycheck for the Fourth of July. But many of the country’s lowest-paid workers won’t be among them.
While the majority of U.S. workers receive paid holidays and vacation these days, those at the bottom of the income scale are the least likely to be eligible for those benefits, according to recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The same goes for paid sick days.
Overall, 79% of U.S. workers received paid holidays last year, while 77% were eligible for paid vacation. But for earners in the bottom 10% of wages, those shares dropped to 46% and 43%, respectively.
The numbers were even more stark when it came to sick leave. While 80% of the workforce overall received paid sick days, only 40% of workers in the bottom decile could call out sick and still get paid.
“Ninety-six percent of workers in white-collar business and finance jobs received paid holidays last year, while only 57% of workers in service jobs could say the same.”
The federal data tracks with a survey last year from the Pew Research Center, which found that 80% or more of upper- and middle-income workers had paid time off and other benefits, compared to two-thirds or less of low-income workers.
American workers put a lot of stock in their time off. More than 60% of respondents in the Pew survey said getting paid time off for vacations and doctor’s visits was “extremely important” to them, while only 51% said the same for employer-sponsored health care coverage.
Paid time off is a benefit like any other, so it’s not surprising that workers who command higher salaries also enjoy more compensated time off. How much you get depends largely on what kind of job you have.
Ninety-six percent of workers in white-collar business and finance jobs received paid holidays last year, while only 57% of workers in service jobs could say the same, according to the BLS. However, that’s a larger share of service workers than six years earlier, when only 50% received paid holidays.
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One big reason for the discrepancies is that the U.S. is an outlier among developed nations in not requiring businesses to provide employees with a minimum amount of paid time off. European countries typically guarantee somewhere between 20 and 30 paid vacation days, along with up to two weeks worth of paid holidays, according to a 2019 report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
“For U.S. employees who do receive paid vacation and holidays, the distribution of those benefits is extremely unequal,” the report noted.
In the U.S., low-wage workers might be free to take holidays and other time off, but many of them will lose a day’s pay for it. (The landmark Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 assures many workers that they have a right to take job-protected leave for qualifying reasons, but the law does not require the time off to be paid.)
Several states have created their own paid leave mandates in lieu of any nationwide requirement, but most federal efforts have been stymied by Republican opposition in Congress.
Democrats have pushed, steadily but unsuccessfully, to enact federal laws establishing a baseline for paid sick days and paid parental leave. Some proposals would require businesses to let their workers accrue paid time off over the course of the year. Others, including one with some GOP support, would create paid leave insurance plans or provide funding to states to create their own programs.
In March, Democrats in the GOP-controlled House rolled out a bill that would require employers to give workers one hour of paid leave for every 25 hours they worked, capped at two weeks per year. Called the Protected Time Off Act, or PTO Act, the bill has garnered no Republican support and has been stuck in committee.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has been pushing the same proposal for years in the Senate. When he introduced it again in March, he said U.S. workers deserve to be treated “with dignity and respect.”
“It is time to end the international embarrassment of the United States being the only major country on earth not to guarantee paid vacation days to workers,” Sanders said.