The majority of employees believe having paid time off is important. Still, many of them don’t use up their available time off during the year.
So, why do workers refrain from using PTO? Are companies doing enough to encourage their employees to take time off?
Find answers to these questions and many others including:
PTO, or the time you take off from work without any loss of pay, is a common benefit that contributes to millions of workers around the world feeling valued and appreciated.
Let's take a look at the 10 most important PTO statistics to see whether the numbers reflect that:
The federal law does not require employers to offer any paid time off to their employees. Therefore, PTO is a matter of employment contract.
Still, along with the details agreed on in contracts, the average PTO in the USA depends on various factors, with the most important ones being:
Moreover, the type of PTO plan (consolidated or separate leave policies) greatly impacts the number of days off employees have available per year.
A consolidated leave plan incorporates all types of leave within one policy. On the contrary, some employers offer separate leave policies for different types of leave, such as:
Here’s the average PTO in the US depending on the type of service and PTO plan employees have.
According to the official US Bureau of Labor of Statistics numbers, the average paid time off in the US for civilian and private industry employees with consolidated leave plans per year is:
Furthermore, the average PTO in the US for government workers with consolidated leave plans per year is:
According to the US Bureau of Labor numbers, the average civilian employee with a separate sick leave plan gets a total of 8 paid sick days per year, regardless of years of service.
An average private industry worker has 7 paid sick days per year available, no matter how long they’ve been employed.
On the other hand, the average number of paid sick days for government workers highly depends on the years of service. Government employees receive an average of:
The average number of vacation days per year (as a separate leave plan) also depends on the type of service and years of employment.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics report on vacation days in America states that private industry employees typically get:
How many days of vacation per year you get as a government employee also depends on the years of service. The average number of vacation days per year for state or local government workers is:
The latest US Bureau of Labor numbers tell us that 79% of private-sector employees had paid vacation available in 2023. Furthermore, 77% of civilian workers were offered paid vacation that same year.
The number is much lower for government workers, as only 60% of government employees had paid vacation leave available.
Paid sick leave is a crucial government benefit, as 92% of government employees had access to paid sick days.
Moreover, 80% of civilian workers and 78% of private-sector employees had paid sick leave available in 2023.
Let's look into paid leave access statistics for different categories of workers in more detail.
Data from the BLS's 2023 Employee Benefits Survey shows that employees of larger companies are more likely to have access to PTO benefits.
This table shows the percentage of workers who have access to PTO benefits depending on the size of the business they work at:
| Company size | Vacation leave | Sick leave | Holiday leave |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-49 employees | 68% | 77% | 72% |
| 50-99 employees | 64% | 80% | 68% |
| 100-499 employees | 77% | 87% | 80% |
| 500+ employees | 79% | 91% | 82% |
The same Employee Benefits survey showed that full-time employees are more likely to receive PTO benefits when compared to part-time workers.
Here’s the percentage of workers with access to vacation, sick, and holiday leave (the survey offers no data for personal leaves), depending on the type of employment:
| Employment type | Vacation leave | Sick leave | Holiday leave |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time | 82% | 92% | 84% |
| Part-time | 34% | 50% | 44% |
Union workers are more likely to receive PTO benefits, the same Employee Benefits survey shows.
Take a look at the table that shows the percentage of union and non-union workers with access to vacation, sick, and holiday leave:
| Bargaining status | Vacation leave | Sick leave | Holiday leave |
|---|---|---|---|
| Union | 75% | 92% | 81% |
| Non-union | 72% | 81% | 74% |
The said Employee Benefits survey also showcased the discrepancy between higher and lower-earning workers in civilian and private industry sectors. The highest-earning workers in these sectors are more likely to receive benefits such as paid sick leave, paid vacation, and paid holidays.
On the other hand, government employees have access to similar benefits regardless of their earnings.
The survey divided employees’ wages into 4 categories, based on the average wage for different occupations:
The table shows access to paid vacation, sick, and holiday leave based on each category, for civilian and private-industry sectors:
| Earnings | Vacation leave | Sick leave | Holiday leave |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest-earning occupations (25%) | 55% | 57% | 60% |
| Second lowest-earning occupations (25%) | 83% | 83% | 84% |
| Third lowest-earning occupations (25%) | 91% | 87% | 91% |
| Highest-earning occupations (25%) | 88% | 95% | 90% |
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics data, not all employees have access to paid leave benefits. The numbers vary greatly between industries.
Here’s the percentage of workers who had access to paid leave (sick leave, vacation, and holidays) in 2023:
| Industry | Civilian | Private | Government |
|---|---|---|---|
| Management, business, and finance | 96% | 97% | No data |
| Installation, maintenance, and repair | 90% | 89.3% | No data |
| Office and administration | 88% | 88% | 89% |
| Production and transportation | 82.7% | 83.3% | 75.7% |
| Construction, extraction, farming, fishing, and forestry | 75% | 73.7% | No data |
| Sales | 72.7% | 72.7% | No data |
| Education | 50.7% | No data | 45% |
The same US Bureau of Labor Statistics research shows differences in paid leave access based on employees’ region. Take a look at the percentages of employees who had access to paid sick leave, paid vacation, and paid holidays in 2023:
Have you ever wondered how much employees value having paid time off? What about how often PTO is actually used in the United States?
Learn more about the typical PTO usage in the US as well as how work stress affects US vacation time.
A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that 62% of US workers believe it’s “extremely important” to have paid time off for:
Out of this number, 27% believe paid time off for these circumstances is “very important.”
The same survey by the Pew Research Center showed that nearly half of US employees (46%) don’t use up all of their available time off.
On the other hand, 48% of people use all of their available days off. The survey doesn't mention the preferences of the remaining 6% of participants.
The survey results also show that employees with higher education and upper-income employees tend to use less time off than offered.
Heavy workload is among the top reasons why employees don’t use their PTO, the International Foundation 2024 survey reports.
Here are other reasons why workers don’t take paid time off:
Companies' behavior can discourage employees from taking their earned vacation. The said International Foundation survey showed that some workers don’t feel supported to take PTO.
Here’s what employees reported regarding the lack of support:
Companies came up with different ways to encourage time off. According to WorldatWork 2024 research, more than half of organizations (56%) cap the amount of time off workers are allowed to bank.
Furthermore, 26% of surveyed employees have a “use-it-or-lose-it” policy. This policy means that any unused time off doesn’t roll over to the following year or pay period. Instead, the accumulated PTO expires.
In addition, 5% of organizations introduced the minimum number of days off an employee has to take during a year.
According to CalendarLabs' recent survey, employees who are most satisfied with their jobs took 15 days of PTO in 2023.
This survey also showed that, in general, remote employees take an average of 14 PTO days annually. On the other hand, on-site workers need 15 days off on average.
AbsenceSoft’s 2024 Leave and Workplace Accommodations Forecast report explored the value of paid leave policies to employees.
The survey showed the lack of paid leave would deter job seekers from even applying for a position. Thus, offering paid leave is a smart way to attract top talent.
Organizations are beginning to understand the importance of incorporating different types of paid leave into their policies.
The same 2024 AbsenceSoft report showed that many organizations have added paid mental health days to their PTO policies. Organizations also incorporated other PTO policies:
Gusto compared the number of sick days workers have been taking in recent years. According to their 2023 findings, the number of sick days taken in 2023 is 42% higher than in 2019.
What’s more, the number of hours of sick time employees took has increased by 15%. It now amounts to an average of 15.5 hours per year.
A 2024 ResumeBuilder survey explored managers’ views on employees taking sick leave.
It showed that an alarming number of managers discourage workers from resting while sick. What’s more, 27% of them believe that the culture of coming to work sick contributes to employee productivity.
Moreover, 24% of managers believe workers who take sick time exaggerate or lie about their illness. As many as 11% of survey participants even admitted to “sick shaming” their employees.
According to a 2024 survey by Radical Storage, over 3 quarters of employees in the US will use vacation time to cope with work stress in 2024.
Unfortunately, many of them won't be successful in combating stress. The same survey shows that vacations lead to more stressful workloads for 59% of workers.
Vacation days in America aren’t as enjoyable as they should be. Based on the same Radical Storage research, the majority of employees have work on their minds while on vacation.
Here’s how often employees worry about work during vacation:
A recent survey conducted by ELVTR showed that 68% of US and Canadian workers perform work tasks while on vacation.
For 27% of survey respondents, this reportedly isn't an issue as they love their jobs and don’t mind working on vacation.
On the other hand, 37% of survey participants feel as if they have to work since they have nobody to delegate their tasks to.
The same ELVTR survey also reports that 35% feel there is an expectation to work when they’re on vacation. Furthermore, 18% of workers claim their boss requires them to at least check their emails while on vacation.
Moreover, many employees receive work messages and calls during vacation:
The WorldatWork study also explored what happens to unused PTO.
Here are the common ways organizations handle unused time off:
The WorldatWork study we mentioned earlier reports that 23.5% of workers get paid for unused banked PTO upon termination.
On the upside, 76.5% of workers get reimbursed for unused PTO. Numbers are higher for voluntary termination (82%) than involuntary (71%).
For companies that offer separate vacation days, 83% of terminated employees get paid for unused vacation time.
The situation is different for unused sick days — only 6% of workers are reimbursed for sick days they didn’t use.
According to the said International Foundation survey from 2024, the majority of employers (54.2%) offer separate vacation, personal, and sick time.
PTO bank (consolidated leave plans) comes in second (38.2%), while unlimited PTO is the third popular option (7.6%).
| PTO policy | Percentage of employers who offer this policy |
|---|---|
| Separate paid leave policies | 54.2% |
| PTO bank | 38.2% |
| Unlimited PTO | 7.6% |
But what kind of policy do employees want to have?
A recent survey by Joblist asked employees what their ideal PTO policy was. Let’s take a look at the respondents’ answers.
According to the said Joblist survey, employees’ number 1 wish is to have the ability to transfer their unused PTO and use it next year.
Unlimited PTO is the second most popular option among employees, chosen by 26.8% of Joblist survey respondents.
Unlimited PTO allows workers to take as much time off as they need. They don’t have a cap on how much PTO they can take as long as their absence doesn’t affect their or their colleagues’ performance.
Nearly a third (26.5%) of Joblist survey respondents want to have a set number of days a year they can use.
However, they would prefer the number of days off to be above the usual 2 weeks of PTO many companies offer.
Having only 2 weeks of PTO is the least desirable option for the Joblist survey respondents.
This is an interesting outcome considering our PTO stats, as they show that most workers take less than 2 weeks off on average.
According to a paid leave analysis by Resume.io, these countries offer the most paid leave days a year (including paid holidays) to employees:
Keep reading for more worldwide PTO statistics!
European countries have set a minimum requirement of 20 paid vacation days per year which have to be available to workers.
Still, the exact number of paid vacation days isn’t the same in every country. European countries with the most vacation days available are:
The number of available paid days in Canada varies from province to province.
But in most cases, Canadian employees are offered a minimum of 2 weeks of paid leave after 1 year of employment. After 5 years, workers typically have one more week of paid leave available.
In the Saskatchewan province, employees get 3 weeks of leave after the first year of their employment.
In Australia, annual leave (also referred to as holiday pay) is available to both full-time and part-time workers.
Australian employees receive 4 weeks of paid leave for every year they work.
As specified by the Guide to employment law by Linklaters, Chinese workers have between 5 and 15 days off, depending on the length of service and how long they have been employed in the country.
Moreover, Japanese employees who worked at least 6 months for at least 80% of working days per year have 10 days of paid leave available.
What’s more, in India, workers can have from 15 to 21 days of leave available per year.
PTO statistics show that a great number of Americans view PTO as one of the crucial job benefits.
Taking paid time off is essential for proper work-life balance and employee satisfaction. So, it’s important to create PTO policies that encourage workers to take time off.
However, many employers find tracking and reporting data on PTO programs complicated.
Thankfully, you can make this process much simpler by opting for a PTO & Vacation Tracker software such as Clockify. Clockify allows employers to easily create a time off policy for their company and choose whether the policy applies to all employees or specific departments.
Creating time off policies with Clockify
Workers can then request time off and wait for approval from their supervisor. All employees can have an overview of everybody’s time off, which makes tracking and managing absence and workload much easier.
