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NationofChange / Op-Ed
Published: Friday 10 August 2012
“Every American should get a mandatory minimum of three weeks paid vacation a year.”
Back from Three Weeks Vacation with a Bold Proposal
Back from three weeks off grid, much of it hiking in Alaska and Australia.
When I left the U.S. economy was in a stall, Greece was on the brink of defaulting, the euro-zone couldn’t get its act together, the Fed couldn’t decide on another round of quantitative easing, congressional Democrats and Republicans were in gridlock, much of the nation was broiling, and neither Obama nor Romney had put forward a bold proposal for boosting the economy, slowing climate change, or much of anything else.
What a difference three weeks makes.
Here’s a bold proposal I offer free of charge to Obama or Romney: Every American should get a mandatory minimum of three weeks paid vacation a year.
Most Americans only get two weeks off right now. But many don’t even take the full two weeks out of fear of losing their jobs. One in four gets no paid vacation at all, not even holidays. Overall, Americans have less vacation time than workers in any other advanced economy.
This is absurd. A mandatory three weeks off would be good for everyone — including employers.
Studies show workers who take time off are more productive after their batteries are recharged. They have higher morale, and are less likely to mentally check out on the job.
This means more output per worker — enough to compensate employers for the cost of hiring additional workers to cover for everyone’s three weeks’ vacation time.
It’s also a win for the economy, because these additional workers would bring down the level of unemployment and put more money into more people’s pockets. This extra purchasing power would boost the economy overall.
More and longer vacations would also improve our health. A study by Wisconsin’s Marshfield Clinic shows women who take regular vacations experience less tension and depression year round. Studies also show that men who take regular vacations have less likelihood of heart disease and fewer heart attacks.
Better health is not just good for us as individuals. It also translates into more productive workers, fewer sick days, less absenteeism. And lower health care costs.
In other words, a three-week minimum vacation is a win-win-win — good for workers, good for employers, and good for the economy.
And I guarantee it would also be a winner among voters. Obama, Romney — either of you listening?
This article was originally posted on Robert Reich's blog.
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ABOUT Robert Reich
ROBERT B. REICH, one of the nation’s leading experts on work and the economy, is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. Time Magazine has named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written thirteen books, including his latest best-seller, “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future;” “The Work of Nations,” which has been translated into 22 languages; and his newest, an e-book, “Beyond Outrage.” His syndicated columns, television appearances, and public radio commentaries reach millions of people each week. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, and Chairman of the citizen’s group Common Cause. His widely-read blog can be found at www.robertreich.org.
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By Aviva Shen
8 comments on "Back from Three Weeks Vacation with a Bold Proposal"
August 12, 2012 6:46am
Robert seems to be putting the cart in front of the horse.
August 10, 2012 4:07pm
Agreed. And I'll add a sidebar. As you get older and are often forced to change jobs, you end up right back down at the bottom rung of the vacation ladder. I'm almost 60 and I get -- wait for it -- three weeks vacation, after 5 years at my current employer. Not IN the fifth year, only AFTER the fifth year. The amount of vacation that American's get is a scandal.
When I do travel, I try to go to interesting places, including Europe. It broadens the mind and helps you see the world from a different perspective. And that helps you be a better human, and by extension, a better employee. Part of the reason that so many American's are so insular is that they NEVER leave their own land. Part of this is due to geography. We can travel for 3000+ miles and never face a language barrier or different cultures. Try that in Europe.
August 10, 2012 2:47pm
Mr Reich, I continue to PROVISIONALLY respect you and am pleased to see you edging closer to saying what must be said at sacrifice of popularity with Dem loyalists and establishment elites. I even imagine you are reading my comments to you, and that your conscience is troubled. My criticism this week:
Nice try Robert, assuage your conscience after an elitist's 3-week vacation to Alaska and Australia costing more than a month's take-home pay of 80% of all EMPLOYED Americans. Boldly propose something that doesn't have a rat's-ass chance of passage, to all the non-elites whose federal, state and local property taxes largely paid for your elite-career income and benefits and still do, dammitall.
Forget more forceful condemnation not just of right-wing Repubs and gridlock, but the role Obama and Dems have played, are now playing, and will yet play in the great transfer of wealth from the many to the few -- ie the impoverishment of the majority of the 99% -- and the crucifixion by war and resource exhaustion to which the 1% including you, by virtue of half-assed and self-serving bleats, are condemning our children.
I'd chew on the bone you threw us, but can't risk breaking a tooth, because I need to save a couple bucks to pay the tax penalty I face for being unable to afford the health insurance I don't have, thanks to the resurrected Repub health-care reform known as Obamacare, which passed the same year Obama put social security on the table, jacked the defense budget, and paid his respects in public to the banksters who destroyed the lives of millions and paid themselves millions in bonuses with the bail-out money from the US Treasury to which I contributed more in 2008 than several of the largest and most profitable corporations in the world combined.
Thanks Robert, you're one of the nice guys among the elite-cum-oligarchs.
PS How much is UC Berkeley contributing to your present and future wealth thanks to all the little people of California?
August 10, 2012 2:12pm
This seems laughable in the context of a BOLD proposal. I imagine that those 11 million college grads that can't find work will think a bold solution would be one that makes sure they have a future with some hope in it, not to mention the rest of the unemployed. If this is the best he can come up with with the credentials that he has it's no wonder we are in such a mess.
How about this one Professor, since the population living in suburbia uses only 3% of the land of this nation and our government controls 30% of the land of this nation let's boldly demand that the government provide the land and the resources necessary to provide free, self-sustaining eco villages throughout the country for any American that needs it and is willing to contribute to the work it takes to build and maintain them? While 50% of Americans retire without savings, millions are homeless, corporations and our government (our so called Leaders) can't even come up with your "bold" solution, but there is more wasted happiness and productivity while they mill about clueless than this nation can afford. But, congratulations on being so secure in your work and life that bold seems to you to be 3 weeks off a year for everybody. Wow! I wish I was you.
August 10, 2012 2:51pm
Trish House, I'm glad to see somebody else gets it.
August 11, 2012 12:33pm
Thanks, I like your post above. I don't really wish I was him. It's kinda like wishing to have selective Alzheimer’s where one doesn't have to face the consequences of one's life choices. I guess it is a disease common among wealthy folks.
August 10, 2012 11:20am
Oh, and I forgot to mention the inevitable (and undoubtedly inaccurate) studies by the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute enumerating the "x" number of dollars in lost profitability that such a policy will cost each company, along with some convoluted arguments about how it will cause everyone's taxes to go up!
August 10, 2012 11:01am
Mr. Reich, I agree with you 100%; in fact, I think 4 or 5 weeks would be even better, but three is a good start. I doubt, however, that it has much chance of ever happening in today's climate. You know how it will go down: conservative business owners all the way from the Waltons down to the proprietor of the neighborhood burger joint will complain bitterly about "government interference" (especially if it's Obama that enacts it), and everyone else will be too afraid or brainwashed to stand up for it. In Amurrica, only the boss gets to take long vacations! That's why we're the greatest economic power in the world, remember? God forbid we should let facts and common sense get in the way.