Labor Landscape
Forget about packing the travel bags and sipping Mai Tais on the beach. Nope, American workers are hunkered down in their sterile cubicles crouched over computers living the daily grind of endless work. That’s what the latest workplace surveys are reporting in what has been the hottest summer on record in the United States.
A recent study conducted by Pew Research found that 48 percent of U.S. workers take less time off than employers offer. Additionally, 49 percent of respondents said they fear falling behind in work, while 43 percent said they’d feel badly that their colleagues would have to pick up their slack. Additionally, 21 percent of Black workers say the reason they take fewer days of is due to the risk of losing their jobs. On the flip side, this is the case for only 13 percent of white workers.
Work counselors like Paula A. Calabrese of Pittsburgh, Pa. said stepping away from work is essential for good health and increased job productivity. “Not taking vacation can lead to burnout,’’ Calabrese said.
Calabrese suggests that workers can take short breaks like a long weekend or work to spread their PTO (paid time off) over a period of time that avoids the peak work season.
Medical doctors point out that taking time off can be life saving if you are performing a job where you do the same thing over and over again which can lead to repetitive strain injury. “Your body needs to rest and rejuvenate, and days off from work can help you do just that,’’ said Calabrese.
Still, the phenomenon of U.S. workers’ hesitation to take their PTO is nothing new – research from the past decade or so shows how firmly entrenched it is.
In a 2012 survey from workforce consulting firm Right Management, 70 percent of employees said they weren’t using all their earned vacation days. Around the same time, research from the airline industry discovered that most employees left an average 11 vacation days on the table or 70 percent of their allotted time off.
Even back in 2011, many employees felt uneasy about leaving their work behind when on vacation. In the 2011 study by virtual office company Regus, 66 percent of surveyed employees said they would check and respond to work email during time off, and 29 percent said they expected to attend meetings virtually while on vacation.
Today, Calabrese said workers do have reason for concern before heading off to vacation. This economy has lost 23,000 jobs in 2026, said Calabrese. And economists surveyed by Dow Jones were expecting the U.S. economy to add 83,000 new jobs, more than June’s 57,000.
In yet another troubling sign for the labor market, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that it revised down the prior two months by a combine 103,000. May’s job total was cut by 66,000 to 129,000 total jobs added, while June’s total was lowered by 37,000 to a total gain of 57,000.
Industry watchers also report that many workers may simply not be able to afford a vacation this summer as inflation continues to soar and gasoline prices climb as a result of the U.S. conflict with Iran. The change in workers’ average hourly earnings also fell short of economists’ expectations. Wage growth was 0.1 percent from June, or 3.2 percent from a year ago. That’s also well below inflation, which now hovers at 3.5 percent.
However, there may be a silver lining heading toward the slump in employee vacation days.
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT, reintroduced on Aug. 8, 2026, the Guaranteed Paid Vacation Act – legislation that would guarantee at least two weeks of paid vacation to every full-time worker in America.
“It is beyond unacceptable that in the year 2026, the United States remains the only country on Earth not to guarantee paid vacation for workers. This legislation would put an end to that international embarrassment, “ Sanders said.
Nearly one in four American workers or more than 33 million workers nationwide – receive no paid vacation.
