History of Paid Vacations in America Without Paid Vacations
In Japan, annual leave is granted to all workers who meet certain requirements based on Article 39 of the Labor Standards Law. It is a paid vacation system that is also adopted in countries such as the United Kingdom and France, but only the United States is the only developed country that does not legally establish a paid vacation system. Vox Media's Bridget Schulte explains the idea and history of paid vacations in the United States.
New York's paid time off bill would be a first in the US - Vox
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The United States, like India, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, etc., is known as one of the few countries that does not have a national policy to guarantee annual paid leave to workers. All benefits provided to workers, such as paid holidays, are at the discretion of the employer, and the average number of days provided is about 14 days. Mr. Schulte points out that 'this number of days is the lowest among developed countries in the world.'
Aside from those who are provided with paid vacation, the reality is that nearly 20% of American workers have no paid vacation at all. In the United States, where there is sometimes a movement to give workers paid holidays, there seems to be a strong will to oppose giving paid holidays.
In 1910, President William Taft proposed that 'holidays should no longer be reserved for the wealthy' and that everyone should have the 'right to leave work' for three months each year so that they can continue to work with energy. ' should have.
However, even though paid vacation was just beginning to become popular in other countries at the time, Taft's vacation proposal was not accepted anywhere. American business leaders opposed government intervention, and surprisingly even the American Labor Union, which stands on the side of workers, showed opposition.
At the time, labor leaders were steeped in the traditions of independent and self-sufficient agrarians, and trade unions focused on ensuring sufficiently high wages to weather the economic risks of disease, unemployment, aging, and nursing care. Paid vacations, retirement savings plans, and health insurance were viewed as 'only undermining mental independence,' according to Samuel Gompers, president of the American Confederation of Labor.
However, the Great Depression that occurred in the 1930s changed all that. Job fears due to the recession first led many European countries to adopt national policies that guaranteed annual paid leave, with the backing of labor unions, and the effect softened union attitudes in the United States. At this time, Frances Perkins, who served as Secretary of Labor under President Franklin Roosevelt's administration, ordered the Department of Labor to investigate paid leave and aimed for nationwide legislation.
Perkins was a proponent of paid vacation, and frequently said that it was not just a goal, but a necessity, and an important factor in workers' healthy lives. But at a time when many Americans were out of work and starving, Perkins instead focused on shortening working hours, raising the minimum wage and banning child labor, rather than pursuing a national paid leave policy. , supported the trade union view that workers negotiate paid leave with employers as part of their contracts. Perkins' efforts paid off, and by the time Perkins left the Department of Labor in 1945, one-third of the American working population was said to be unionized.
For the next 30 years, many private employers in the United States offered two weeks of paid vacation, and many union contracts also provided for paid vacation. But then this trend began to change direction. In 1970, the International Labor Organization required at least three weeks of paid leave each year, and workers in European countries began to demand longer annual paid leave. On the other hand, in the United States, labor unions will lose power and wages will begin to stagnate. After all, federal law has not provided for paid vacation since then.
In this commentary, Mr. Schulte did not conclude that ``Why is there no paid vacation in the United States?'' However, Hacker News, a social news site, said, ``Individuals should be free to make contracts with others. Because the country was founded under the great influence of ideas, it is reluctant to impose obligations on employers that would impede the free
``There's always been an uncomfortable feeling about leisure and vacation in America, and there's been a cultural bias to show off work commitments as a sign of status,'' said Ronnie Golden, a labor economist at Pennsylvania State University. American workers say they tend to see making more money as a priority than getting more paid time off.
The idea of paid leave is being reassessed in some states, with several states, including Maine , passing laws to guarantee paid leave to workers, and Maryland passing a law mandating paid leave. It is scheduled to come into force from 2025.
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