48 percent of Americans never spend a summer vacation

[MrRiplEy[H]]

According to a recent study. US folks on this board, how is your situation?

I guess unions are good for something..

[Ripsnort]

I use 8 weeks every year (4 weeks vacation, 2 weeks sick leave, whether I'm sick or not... and 2 weeks holiday pay)

Oh, and I'm salary.

[bj229r]

Well unlike Europe, we actually DO stuff here:aok, so 35 hour work weeks and endless time off get in the way of making a profit  ....That aside, what if folks prefer a skiing vacation instead of a hot, humid trip to the beach or Disney? I get nearly 4 weeks a year, really haven't the desire to be away from home that long.

This sums up France-type countries quite well:

Celine Bureau, 17, a high school student, says, "The law will make us go from employed to unemployed very easily and very often. We want the government to prepare solutions for our future."

link

[lasersailor184]

I haven't been on a vacation in about 10 years.

[Dago]

I don't usually take a "summer vacation".  We take small vacations through the year, like a day or two vacation tacked onto a weekend for short trips.   Sometimes a work trip is to a spot the wife wants to go along with me, so we do that.  I almost always take the week of Christmas off, and a few days in conjunction with July 4th.

[Mr No Name]

I havent had a REAL vacation in years... culprits are unreal prices in real estate market (The same house that sold for 39K when i was in high School recently sold for 212K and the neighborhood sucks  now), outrageous taxes (all taxes combined)  Fuel prices and the increase in prices this causes down the line.  Decreasing wages due to illegal immigration and job outsourcing.  While they may not do my type of work, they drive down prices because they directly decrease the wages of part of my customer base.  I live in an area that was HUGE in textiles as recently as 18 years ago. Everyone suddenly started buying inferior cloth from communist china.  Now out of 17 textile mills that employed between 250 and 1,500 people at each plant and numerous cotton farms. (In a very small series of towns) We now have 2 left open that employ 210 people combined.  These 2 are being closed due to corrosion caused by a train derailment and chlorine spill awhile back.  That's a lot of skilled labor, now unemployed trying to compete with border jumpers to feed their families.

I can understand why many Americans cant take a vacation... they dont buy American products.

[straffo]

Originally posted by bj229r
Well unlike Europe, we actually DO stuff here:aok, so 35 hour work weeks and endless time off get in the way of making a profit  ....That aside, what if folks prefer a skiing vacation instead of a hot, humid trip to the beach or Disney? I get nearly 4 weeks a year, really haven't the desire to be away from home that long.

This sums up France-type countries quite well:  link

The worse slacker I ever met where american so your comment about doing stuff is pretty funny.

Btw posting a one year old article not knowing content is either dishonnest or stupid (your take).
The CNE was a work contract like the american one but with the taxation system of our socialist paradise ( without the benefit).

[Nilsen]

Longer hours does not translate into more productivity per hour.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-09/01/content_260191.htm

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20030901-2748.html

[cav58d]

Originally posted by straffo
The worse slacker I ever met where american so your comment about doing stuff is pretty funny.

Europeans dont even like the French.  nuff said.

[straffo]

Originally posted by cav58d
Europeans dont even like the French.  nuff said.

Holly defence!
I'm speechless.

[FrodeMk3]

The only problem with those sources, Nilsen, is that they don't break down by individual sectors of the economy's involved in their statistics. I mean, are they talking about farming? The Auto industry? Steel? Construction? Banking? Textiles?

It's really hard to quantify output per hour, or even make a truly good guess on the overall total, without a breakdown per industry.

[straffo]

Plus there is not the part of our gigantic bureaucracy working very precisely 35:00 hours and often less

As Clémenceau  said in the past the wife of a bureaucrat should be happy her husband always come back early and as already read the evening newspaper.

[Nilsen]

I havent read the report, and you have a point. Im guessing tho that its average based on total productivity of the working population devided by number of hours they work or some such thing.

So if country A produces more labour demanding products than country B the numbers could be seen as misleading, yet they would still be correct.

[lasersailor184]

Originally posted by Nilsen
Longer hours does not translate into more productivity per hour.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-09/01/content_260191.htm

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20030901-2748.html

At least in the construction industry, 40 hours per week seems to be the optimum work week.  Productivity doesn't go down if you overwork, but if you continually over work.

[Nilsen]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
Productivity doesn't go down if you overwork, but if you continually over work.

Id say that would prolly be correct. I am guessin that in contruction here they have some weeks off overwork during busy seasons and then work less than normal in the slower seasons.