It is a widespread truth that unions in Australia have fought for workers to have leave. Paid leave away from work is the most common form of leave that has been around for over a century in one form or another. From 10 days in 1901 in the Maritime Award to the 20 days we have now, workers in Australia deserve a good break. Whilst it is perceived Australia’s population is laid back; we know that we are also one of the most diligent when it comes to fulfilling our contractual obligations. That said, how do we compare to other countries? Let’s have a look.
Data from a 2019 report from the International Labour Organization, the Centre for Economic and Policy Research and the Wage Indicator Network, helps us compare how we fare with some other countries when it comes to our ability to have paid, legislated time off work. Days in hours terms vary from country to country but let’s go with the average of 35 hours per week for neatness. We assume the leave is the minimum for ease of calculations and does not take into account an increase in paid leave days based on years worked or number of absent days in the workplace.
Who has 30 or more days?
Algeria, Andorra, Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Panama and United Arab Emirates.
Who has 20 or more days?
Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Moldova, Montenegro, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Syria, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Who has 10 or more days?
Antigua and Bermuda, Argentina, The Bahamas, Banglade4sh, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brazil, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, East Timor, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Mauritania, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Rwanda, Samoa, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, The Grenadines, San Marino, SierraLeone, Soloman Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Suriname, Swaziland, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, and Vietnam.
Now to the gloomy news for some workers. Let’s look at some countries with little to no paid federally legislated leave.
Bhutan, China, Honduras, Hong Kong, Kiribati, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the Unted States of America.
With the end of year approaching, and the holiday season upon us, what countries’ residents take advantage of the ability to travel.
According to World Atlas reports, Finland residents take an average of 7.50 aggregated international and domestic trips per person per year, followed by residents of the United States at 6.70, while the Swedish have 6.00 total trips, the Danish 5.30, Norwegians 5.20, residents of Hong King, New Zealand 4.30, Canadians 4.10, Australians 3.80, and the French 3.50 annual trips.
In previous journal articles, we discovered that countries with high unionism also topped the list for countries with high happiness levels. We can see that some of these countries also top the list for international and domestic travelers.
World Atlas goes on to say that most of the Scandinavian people are wealthy by global norms and have higher standards of living, so they often travel to foreign countries to escape the cold of the winter season. They have lesser unemployment rate and as the cost of living is high, they make trips abroad to get a better value for their money and even own their holiday homes in other countries.
In comparison, they state that the American people make more of inbound trips as compared because of the country’s diversified geographical area and the rich cultural heritage. Moreover, they prefer to explore their own country only. It is seen that most of the Americans prefer inbound trips as the cost of making foreign trip is quite high. Moreover, according to their work culture, they have a lesser number of holidays and take domestic trips to visit friends and family.
In many respects we are a very lucky country. In terms of paid time off we are in a large group of countries with an average of 2o days paid leave. Generally speaking, we like to spend time with family and friends during our holidays or spend time recharging our batteries.
Whichever way we use our time away from work, we can thank the many people before us who fought hard to ensure we have a right to be away from work without financial penalty. During the holiday period, if you are enjoying paid days off, congratulate yourself for being a member of the USU and being part of a long-standing movement that strives to improve the lives of working people here and across the globe.
