Average American worker takes less vacation time than a medieval peasant

[packman]

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Life for the medieval peasant was certainly no picnic. His life was shadowed by fear of famine, disease and bursts of warfare. His diet and personal hygiene left much to be desired.

But despite his reputation as a miserable wretch, you might envy him one thing: his vacations.

Plowing and harvesting were backbreaking toil, but the peasant enjoyed anywhere from eight weeks to half the year off.

The Church, mindful of how to keep a population from rebelling, enforced frequent mandatory holidays. Weddings, wakes, and births might mean a week off quaffing ale to celebrate, and when wandering jugglers or sporting events came to town, the peasant expected time off for entertainment. There were labor-free Sundays, and when the plowing and harvesting seasons were over, the peasant got time to rest, too.

In fact, economist Juliet Shor found that during periods of particularly high wages, such as 14th-century England, peasants might put in no more than 150 days a year. As for the modern American worker? After a year on the job, she gets an average of eight vacation days annually.

Article finishes by stating the US is the only advanced country with no national vacation policy whatsoever. In fact the only "working" group that has move than vacation days than a medieval peasant are members of Congress with up to 239 days off in any given year.
http://www.businessinsider.fr/us/american-worker-less-vacation-medieval-peasant-2016-11

[The Genealogist]

1. Considering the strongly anti-labor conservatives in power, it'd not surprise me if vacation time

just went away altogether in this country.

[virgogal]

2. I though that the new ruling was just related to government workers-----it has

nothing to do with private businesses.

I don't get the point of your post.

[NewJeffCT]

3. It's not just the amount of vacation time allotted

we have a good family friend that relocated a year or so ago from Connecticut to a job in Pennsylvania... she got a very good job there and the company offered an unusual benefit - UNLIMITED vacation time. So, you could technically take 26 weeks off in a year and be okay.

However, the woman who has the job said that the company HR said that they took surveys before and after this policy went into effect and they found that offering unlimited vacation time meant that employees (on average) took fewer actual vacation days.

[malthaussen]

4. It distorts the facts a little...

... trust me, there is a lot of work associated with farming besides ploughing and harvesting.

But the fun irony is that only Congress in the US gets more vacation time.

-- Mal