Oddly enough, this is a subject I wanted to tackle, coming off my first of two weeks of paid vacation (my second week will be in September). I typed "paid+vacation+international+comparison" into my search engine box, and the very first item is a handy-dandy chart with the title "Americans have the shortest vacation in the developed world":
Legally mandated
vacation days
Sweden 32 Portugal 25
Denmark 30 Netherlands 25
France 30 Belgium 24
Austria 30 Icelanders aged 19?-29 24
Spain 30 Norway 21
Ireland 28 Switzerland 20
Icelanders aged 30-40 27 Germany 18 [30*]
Japan 25 USA 16†
What's most interesting about this chart is the figure for the States is an average and is not mandated by law. Europe and the rest of the civilized world has made the decision to trade a certain amount of comfort and relaxation for the rat race that kills so many of us. Even Japan, where work is almost a religion, has five weeks off a year.
I'm still trying to figure out why the US doesn't have a policy like this. Along with passing card check and getting retail outlets organized, I think this is an issue where organized labor has a winner on their hands (that and updating FMLA provisions to provide paid time off, which would also put us in line with civilization).
