In honor of Labor Day . . .  It’s official (again): Working adults in the U.S. are more vacation-deprived than their counterparts in Canada and seven major European countries, according to Expedia.com’s 2008 Vacation Deprivation survey.

Based upon the results of its eighth annual international survey, which analyzes vacation habits of working adults employed in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria, Expedia calculates that some 47.5 million Americans are vacation-deprived, and over the life of the survey, the U.S. has the distinction of having the worst vacation habits.

The survey found that working adults in the U.S. rank last for the average number of vacation days earned (14). Working adults in France averaged 37 earned vacation days compared to 33 days earned by Italian working adults, 31 days in Spain, 28 days in the Netherlands and Austria, 27 days in Germany, 26 days in Great Britain and 17 days in Canada.

What’s more, 31 percent of adult workers in the U.S. don’t usually take all of their vacation time. Only workers in Italy, Austria and the Netherlands were more likely to not use their vacation days. Workers in Germany were most likely to use all of their vacation time. More than one-fourth of the U.S. respondents (29 percent) reported having trouble coping with stress from work at some point during the vacation cycle and 18 percent said they have canceled or postponed vacation plans because of work.

Survey respondents said the top three reasons for not fully utilizing vacation days were:

They needed to schedule vacation time in advance.
They got money back for unused vacation days.
Work is life and it’s too hard to get away.
On the other hand, 39 percent of the U.S. respondents said they felt better about their jobs and felt more productive upon returning from vacations, while 52 percent said they came back feeling rested, rejuvenated and more connected with family.

U.S. working adults reported it would be easier to take their allotted vacation time if:

Their bosses encouraged them to (22 percent).
Work loads were not so heavy (19 percent).
Their company’s culture supported employees using their allotted vacation time (18 percent).
They were confident that taking a vacation would not be perceived negatively (17 percent).
Their boss actively helped them find resources to cover their job responsibilities while on vacation (17 percent).
Upper management demonstrated the importance of taking time off by taking their own vacation days (16 percent).
More that one third (35 percent) of the U.S. respondents said the summer months of June, July and August were reported to be the most convenient and least stressful time of the year to take vacations.

Interestingly, employed U.S. men reported they were more likely than their female counterparts to work more than 40 hours per week. They also receive about one more vacation day per year than female colleagues, are more likely to check their work voice mail and e-mail while vacationing and are more likely than women to take a two-week vacation (16 percent of men vs. 11 percent of women). On the other hand, the female respondents more likely than males to feel guilty about taking time off from work (38 percent of women vs. 28 percent of men). Expedia says this is a switch from 2007, when men were more likely than women to feel guilty for taking time off work (39 percent of men vs. 30 percent women).

The survey also found that working adults from the West are more likely than those residing in other regions of the U.S. to not take all of their allotted vacation days (40 percent West vs. 26 percent Northeast, 27 percent Midwest and 31 percent South).

Based upon statistics from the Bureau of Labor & Statistics, Expedia estimates that Americans give back 460 million vacation days annually at a value of $65.52 billion.

Source: Reprinted from utahpulse.com 7/31 (http://www.utahpulse.com/featured_article/study_finds_us_workers_vacation_deprived_07302008)

Expedia survey results:  http://media.expedia.com/media/content/expus/graphics/promos/vacations/expedia_international_vacation_deprivation_survey_2008.pdf