Canada ranks near bottom in paid vacation time

If Canadians needed more proof that it’s good to be on this side of the border, fresh evidence was provided Friday in the form of a study on paid time off.

Our governments at least had the good sense to mandate two weeks vacation under the law, while workers in the United States are provided zip – as in zero guaranteed vacation time.

“The United States is the only country in the group that does not legally require employers to provide paid annual leave,” a report from the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research says.

The title of the paper, which tracks and compares time off in advanced economies, is No-Vacation Nation, Revisited.

That’s where the favourable comparisions end, however. Compared to EU-member countries, Canadian laws look stingy.

The European Union set a floor of four weeks or 20 days a year in 1993, while “several EU member countries require substantially more than the lower limit established by the EU,” the report said.

France mandates 30 days of paid annual leave; United Kingdom, 28; Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, 25; and Germany, 24, the report said.

Source: Center for Economic and Policy Research