Explain these statistics (particularly Europeans)

[shmokes]

According to Nationmaster, The US beats out france for the number of days off work.  By a large margin.  The measurement is "Number of days not worked for every 1000 salaried employees."  France is 117, the US is 163.

I don't get how this could be possible.  From what I have been told by multiple Frenchmen, every employee in France has at least 5 weeks paid vacation per year, mandated by law.  I can probably count on one hand the number of people I've met in the US who have that much vacation, paid or otherwise.

This can't be true.  I can only think of three explanations for these numbers:

1- There are fewer salaried employees in France and hourly employees are not counted -- wait, scratch that . . . the number is per 1000 salaried employees so it controls for this . . .

2- School teachers work year-round there, whereas school teachers in the US have 13 weeks off (18 for university professors), which substantially skews the overall numbers. (edit: btw, this is a guess . . . for all I know France has summer vacation too)

3- The statistics on that site are total ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow---

Anybody want to weigh in with an opinion?

[polaris]

whats it supposed to be displaying, its not annual leave.

[shmokes]

It appears to me to be showing the number of days off . . . as in, "Hi Bob . . . I'm not coming into work next week.  Gonna take the family to the Grand Canyon."

[shmokes]

From the same website, though, the statistic for legally required vacation time says:

5 weeks + 2 weeks of RTT (Reduction du Temps de Travail, in English : Reduction of Working Time) = 7 weeks. The most significant vacation time of any country in the world.

[shmokes]

Maybe that first statistic doesn't include vacation time.  Like it means calling in sick or missing work because you missed a flight or something.

[Cakemeister]

There are three kinds of lies; lies, damned lies, and statistics.

[polaris]

It appears to me to be showing the number of days off . . . as in, "Hi Bob . . . I'm not coming into work next week.  Gonna take the family to the Grand Canyon."

Maybe that first statistic doesn't include vacation time.  Like it means calling in sick or missing work because you missed a flight or something.

i really dont know what its saying, but i dont think its either of those, the UK figures are way too low

[Vanguard]

I get 5 weeks + 10 statutory holidays + 1 floating holiday.

This isn't uncommon in the high tech sector.  

I think most high tech companies give 3 weeks for junior people these days.

[Felsir]

In the Netherlands we have at least 20 days of mandated by law. I have 25 days off per year as a base plus 1 extra day per 5 years of employment (nicknamed "old geezer days").

The graph you linked says 1 day for the Netherlands and 367 for Iceland (if that is the average days per year, how many days does a year last in Iceland?) so there is definetly something wrong in that graph...

Your link seemed to use OECD as source, so I looked at that site and found this:
Average annual hours actually worked per worker
US: 1792
FR: 1542
NL: 1389

[shmokes]

if that is the average days per year, how many days does a year last in Iceland?

I was confused about this too at first, but it's days not worked per 1000 people.  Between 1000 people the number of days that could be not worked in a day year is 365,000, not 365.


edit: fixed rather glaring typo 

[Felsir]

By that rationale; in the Netherlands only 1 day off per 365,000 doesn't sound realistic.
In my opinion that chart is plain wrong.

[CheffoJeffo]

Maybe that first statistic doesn't include vacation time.  Like it means calling in sick or missing work because you missed a flight or something.

I think you have it there ... it must be some sort of measure of "lost" work time and excludes scheduled time off.

[HaRuMaN]

I get 5 weeks + 10 statutory holidays + 1 floating holiday.

This isn't uncommon in the high tech sector.  

I think most high tech companies give 3 weeks for junior people these days.

I started out with 2 weeks + 10 statutory holidays + 2 floating holidays...

Vacation increase with years in service...  25 years gets you 5 weeks, 30 years gets you 6 weeks.

[ark_ader]

I'm not surprised the french are a bunch of lazy 

[shmokes]

Agreed.  Anybody who thinks it would be nice to have five seven weeks of holiday (plus national holidays) has mental problems.  They must have really low worker productivity rates, and I bet they're a really poor country.

[Vanguard]

I get 5 weeks + 10 statutory holidays + 1 floating holiday.

This isn't uncommon in the high tech sector.  

I think most high tech companies give 3 weeks for junior people these days.

I started out with 2 weeks + 10 statutory holidays + 2 floating holidays...

Vacation increase with years in service...  25 years gets you 5 weeks, 30 years gets you 6 weeks.

Yuck. What industry/company?

[HaRuMaN]

Aerospace.

Honeywell

[Dartful Dodger]

I start with 5 weeks.
I can carry over 2.5 weeks at the end of the year, but I'll lose anything over that, so I force myself to take 2.5 weeks before I lose them.

For the past 6 years I've never had less than 7.5 weeks for vacation.

[Vanguard]

Aerospace.

Honeywell

Ah, yeah.   I worked for GE Aerospace and Lockheed at one time.   Defense contractors aren't as free with their benefits as the commercial sector.

[Level42]

Agreed.  Anybody who thinks it would be nice to have five seven weeks of holiday (plus national holidays) has mental problems.  They must have really low worker productivity rates, and I bet they're a really poor country.

Ahhh, don't we just love prejudice !

I have 5 weeks, plus I work 38 hours a week instead of 40. In reality I DO work 40 (about) hours a week and get the saved up hours (2 per week) in days around x-mas and new year's. That is like the French reduction of work time (this was created in a time when there were a lot of people out of jobs and meant to create more jobs for them).

In The Netherlands there is a minimum by law, but most people work under a collective agreement between workers and employers in a market branch. F.I. I work for a fire-alarm company, and they fall under the (light) metal branch. The unions and employers unions negotiate the collective agreements. Employers are always free to "do" better than that agreement. F.I. I will get a raise next month of 1.5% while the collective agreement is no raise because of the crisis.

What's bad about having a lot of paid holidays ?

We are also one of the richest countries in the world, so that proves you are wrong. I bet you're just jealous !

We also care more for our fellow people here, we have a reasonable (although already more "Americanized") health-care system that leaves no-one uninsured and over all we have much better social "safety nets" for the less fortunate.

Oh, we also donate 10 times more money per person for good causes then the US.

And all in all, this makes us one of the happiest people in the world (#3):
http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/05/world-happiest-places-lifestyle-travel-world-happiest.html

[danny_galaga]

Have no idea how it seems Mercans get heaps of leave. It's universally accepted that Frenchies get bucket loads of leave, and Mmercans are too scared to go on leave (even if they can get it).

Australia is somewhere in between- we are entitled to (and take) 4 weeks, after one year at a new job. Long service leave (ten weeks) after ten years.

[Vanguard]

pffft, I have no trouble using my vacation.   I can bank up to 10 weeks and never seem to have more than 4 weeks saved up.

[shmokes]

Jesus, Level42, it sounds like you live in a pretty great place, but they apparently don't teach you sarcasm there.