Study: A Record 768 Million U.S. Vacation Days Went Unused in ’18, Opportunity Cost in the Billions

U.S. Travel Association | August 19, 2019

WASHINGTON American workers left a record number of vacation days on the table last year—768 million days, up 9% from 2017—according to new research from the U.S. Travel Association, Oxford Economics and Ipsos. Of the unused days, 236 million were forfeited completely, equating to $65.5 billion in lost benefits. More than half (55%) of workers reported they did not use all their allotted time off. While American workers are leaving more unused days on the table, they are also taking more days of paid time off; American workers took off an average of 17.2 days in 2017 and 17.4 days in 2018. Employment in the U.S. is st...