By comparison, workers in France get as many as 30 paid vacation days
Canadian workers receive an average of only 10 paid vacation days per year – among the shortest holiday stints in the world, a new study showed.
The country ranked near the bottom of a list of countries that offer workers’ annual leave, as compiled by the Centre for Economic and Policy Research.
Of the 21 member-countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that were included in the rankings, Canada came out second to the last.
Most provinces in Canada provide workers with up to 10 vacation days throughout their first several years with the same employer, according to national laws. The only exception is in Saskatchewan, where new workers are given up to three weeks’ worth of paid vacation.
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By comparison, workers in France get as many as 30 paid vacation days, while workers in Britain enjoy up to 28 days. Both countries topped the CEPR list.
Aside from receiving 10 vacation days, Canadian workers also enjoy nine holidays. This gives them a total of 19 paid days off every year.
However, it is still a far cry from what workers in other countries such as Spain (39 days), Germany (33 days), Sweden (36 days), Norway (35 days) and New Zealand (31 days) receive.
The US is the only OECD country that offers fewer days off than Canada. The law does not entitle American employees to receive paid vacation or holiday.
While Japan also had the same number of paid days off as Canada, the Asian country is already taking steps to reform policies to allow for more time off for workers.
The Japanese government hopes that this would help mitigate the high level of stress and other health problems associated with doing too much work.
Despite these efforts, however, not all workers get to enjoy the same number of paid vacation days and holidays as the average worker due to persistent inequalities in the labour force.
According to the CEPR study, low-wage, part-time, and small business workers are the ones least likely to get paid vacation days and holidays.
Even if these individuals were offered paid time off, they would receive fewer days compared to their higher-wage, full-time counterparts working for bigger companies, the study claimed.
