May 18, 2007
From the desk of Jane Galt:The life of leisure
Ezra is worried that American workers don’t get any paid vacation. Julian points out that most of us do, in fact, get paid vacation. Which is basically what I was thinking when I read that post: the government doesn’t mandate that we get free milk or cushy blankets, and yet most of us manage to secure some anyway. To which Ezra rejoinders that some, mostly low paid workers, still don’t and isn’t that a scandal?
This seems to be to be based on several unwarranted assumptions. The first is that paid vacation is a free good to employees: that employers can just be forced to offer people ten or thirty days off a year, and they’ll take the money out of profits (or from some other bad people we don’t like), rather than, say, paying the workers less per hour to compensate. Of course, we could have a higher minimum wage law. But a really stiff minimum wage, combined with lavish perks like generous vacation time, actually do have noticeable disemployment effects, which is one of the reasons that European unemployment, and particularly European youth unemployment, is so much higher than ours. So every low-wage worker enjoying twenty days of paid annual leave does so in part, by foregoing higher wages, and in part, by putting other people out of work. It is possible that he also does so in part, by taking money from the owners; but not in all cases, and the first two effects probably dwarf the third, labour markets being what they are.
If paid vacation days are not a free good to employees, then of course, this represents not a government goody, but the rough hand of the state forcing you to take vacation when you’d rather have cash . . . or letting your neighbour take vacation, when you’d rather have a job.
The second assumption is that Europeans use their vacation to, well, vacate. And of course, sometimes they do. But there is also evidence that Americans substitute money for leisure in performing chores. Europeans have more time off; but they spend a lot of that time painting their houses, cleaning out the gutters, taking care of the lawn, drying clothes by hand, and so forth. Much of this is work that even poorer Americans outsource.
I went to see Benjamin Barber talk yesterday, he of the “We consume too much! We need a more authentic, non-consumer lifestyle!” books. No doubt he would argue that this is a feature, not a bug . . . Europeans are caring for their bodies and homes in an authentic, natural way. To which I say, feh! I like many domestic tasks, like cooking, but that’s in part because I don’t have to do them; they’re a labour of love. And I challenge anyone to say that they get joy from regrouting their own bathroom tile.
Posted by Jane Galt at May 18, 2007 2:59 PM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound linksI must have the best of both worlds: I work in the United States for a privately held German company- over six weeks of paid vacation time not counting holidays, of which there are about 10 days altogether.
Jane,
I fear I have to disagree on this one. I agree that generally European employment legislation has a negative effect on employment. However, that would be because of the difficulty of sacking a person once you've hired them.
In Britain I think we have a right to 20 days paid holiday a year (at the moment, that can include the 8 public holidays), we have minimum wage legislation (c. £5 ph ($10)) and don't have a particular problem with employment because its reasonably easy to sack a person who isn't performing.
Further, couldn't one make the argument that people spend money in their leisure time. If they have paid leisure time, they are spending more money which in turn employs more people as well as gaining the utility of not having to work that day.
Maybe paid holiday is a reason why more Europeans have passports, we have more time to travel? (yes, factors like the US being a big, geographically isolated country do count for a lot too)
By amazing coincidence, I really did just finish regrouting the tile in my bathroom, and it actually was enjoyable. Maybe I should move to Europe.
As you know, I tend play more in Ezra's political pool than Julian or yours but I tend to agree with you here. I am a consultant. I get no paid vacation, except that is figured into my hourly rate so that when I take time off that factors.
Last year I made approximately 1/3 more as a consultant than I had at my previous job-job. Now, I had to spend a bunch more (more in health insurance, more in vacation pay, etc.) but I got to spend the money on what I wanted to, not the company's HMO plan that they picked.
The other advantage is that it affords me a level of freedom that I would otherwise never have. The company I work for gives employees 17 days off (vacation, sick leave, it's all the same). It is likely that I have, between sick days, long weekends, family emergencies and doctors appointments, taken the majority of those 17 days already. You know what? It doesn't matter. If I want to take more of those off, I can. I'm taking 7 days off in August. The only thing preventing me from working four days a week is, in general, the amount of money I will get and, specifically, it might reflect badly on me. But I never run out of vacation and that's how I like it.
HOWEVER...I do feel that we should, as a society, understand that it is important to have the "work life balance". I think that we should encourage people to take vacations. I think people are more productive when they are well rested, and that means not just sleep but also relaxation.
So I see the point, but I don't think it's really a problem I want to solve with legislation.
Is it a disagreement to say that I get joy from having my husband regrout the bathroom tiles? Not sure what he gets out of it however...
Is it a disagreement to say that I get joy from having my husband regrout the bathroom tiles? Not sure what he gets out of it however...
Mrs. H: Now my wife wants to know why I just shouted "Ouch!".
[ To which Ezra rejoinders that some, mostly low paid workers, still don’t and isn’t that a scandal? ]
Not really as those are typically temporary jobs that someone takes at first when entering the workforce. Then they get more experience and move into better jobs that have paid vacations.
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