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https://www.bls.gov/charts/employee-benefits/paid-leave-sick-vacation-days-by-service-requirement.htm https://www.bls.gov/charts/employee-benefits/paid-leave-si

https://www.bls.gov/charts/employee-benefits/paid-leave-sick-vacation-days-by-service-requirement.htm https://www.bls.gov/charts/employee-benefits/paid-leave-sick... Could be better for sure, but a graph showing the US as having 0 days of paid days off because the federal government doesn't mandate anything is misleading at best. Average US worker after 1 year of employment earns 7 sick days and 11 vacation days. And likely has some state and federal holidays off as well, and could very well qualify for state required PTO and sick time. But that doesn't get clicks and attention. More data, if one is curious: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ebs2.t06.htm https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ebs2.t06.htm

richwater 3mo ago
I think an interesting point here is there is no substantial difference between allocated vacation days if you work for the government or a private employer. One would think the government would set a good example.
Faaak 3mo ago
I wouldn't take into account sick days, because this article doesn't also.
- strictnein 3mo ago
  I was mentioning it because the data does and also to get ahead of people claiming that US PTO includes sick time, when it mostly doesn't.
  - rendx 3mo ago
    The point is that it is a limited amount of paid sick days, which is a completely foreign concept in most places (pun intended).
InsideOutSanta 3mo ago
> earns 7 sick days Including sick days makes the calculation worse, not better. Sick days typically don't exist in Europe. If you're sick, you obviously just don't go to work. What's the point of infecting the whole office? On average, workers in Europe take about 2 to 3 weeks off each year due to sickness in addition to their vacation. In fact, if you're sick during vacation, that doesn't count as vacation time, at least in some European countries.
- braiamp 3mo ago
  Can confirm in non-European country. In Dominican Republic they don't count either
- strictnein 3mo ago
  I included them to show that, on average, PTO does not need to be used for sick time and to show that the vacation time is vacation time. > "workers in Europe take about 2 to 3 weeks off each year due to sickness in addition to their vacation" It looks like in Germany it's 20 days a year - https://www.dw.com/en/germany-sick-days-absentees-mental-health-oecd-workers-economy/a-77815488 https://www.dw.com/en/germany-sick-days-absentees-mental-hea... Are you all really that sick? Shouldn't the availability of lots of sick time and your "superior" healthcare system decrease your illness levels? Doesn't seem to make any sense to me.
  - cumshitpiss 3mo ago
    [dead]
  - prerok 3mo ago
    The sick leave has to go through the healthcare system. That said, there are doctors that would just blindly approve, but it's not exactly a norm. A lot of those sick days are also childcare.
    - strictnein 3mo ago
      Genuinely curious now: If you have a cold or a cough, or maybe a slight fever, do you have to talk to a doctor to get a day or two off of work?
      - rascul 3mo ago
        I'm in the USA and I've never had to do more than inform my employer that I'm not coming in because I'm sick. I guess it varies by employer.
      - 3mo ago
cassianoleal 3mo ago
11? And that's good?
- strictnein 3mo ago
  Where did I claim that? I stated the opposite. I started my sentence with "Could be better for sure". Maybe something is lost in translation? It just means "This could use improvement".
  - cassianoleal 3mo ago
    Fair enough! I read "could be better for sure" together with the whole "but" that came after it - meaning even though it could be better, it's not so bad because it averages 11.
xela79 3mo ago
> employment earns 7 sick days ugh, "sick days", what an absurd concept. If you are too unwell to work, you don't go to work , of course, and get paid while at home, until you're healed. Not 7 days, not 2 days, just the amount of days required. putting a number on that. ugh and 11 vacation days. Wauw. After a decades of working in Europe you can get a good amount of holidays. in 2025 I had 49 day of which 20 are that minimum you start out with. Every overtime and outside business hour call also gets recovered, that's an extra 3 days so we've passed 50. but what else is new, in the 80 and 90s workers in US were boasting about doing 80hrs of work each week... like wtf :). They live to work, I prefer to work to live life.
ramijames 2mo ago
"Earning sick leave" is some dystopian bullshit. If you are sick, don't go into work. You don't need to earn it.

richwater 3mo ago

I think an interesting point here is there is no substantial difference between allocated vacation days if you work for the government or a private employer. One would think the government would set a good example.

Faaak 3mo ago

I wouldn't take into account sick days, because this article doesn't also.

strictnein 3mo ago
I was mentioning it because the data does and also to get ahead of people claiming that US PTO includes sick time, when it mostly doesn't.
- rendx 3mo ago
  The point is that it is a limited amount of paid sick days, which is a completely foreign concept in most places (pun intended).

InsideOutSanta 3mo ago

> earns 7 sick days Including sick days makes the calculation worse, not better. Sick days typically don't exist in Europe. If you're sick, you obviously just don't go to work. What's the point of infecting the whole office? On average, workers in Europe take about 2 to 3 weeks off each year due to sickness in addition to their vacation. In fact, if you're sick during vacation, that doesn't count as vacation time, at least in some European countries.

braiamp 3mo ago
Can confirm in non-European country. In Dominican Republic they don't count either
strictnein 3mo ago
I included them to show that, on average, PTO does not need to be used for sick time and to show that the vacation time is vacation time. > "workers in Europe take about 2 to 3 weeks off each year due to sickness in addition to their vacation" It looks like in Germany it's 20 days a year - https://www.dw.com/en/germany-sick-days-absentees-mental-health-oecd-workers-economy/a-77815488 https://www.dw.com/en/germany-sick-days-absentees-mental-hea... Are you all really that sick? Shouldn't the availability of lots of sick time and your "superior" healthcare system decrease your illness levels? Doesn't seem to make any sense to me.
- cumshitpiss 3mo ago
  [dead]
- prerok 3mo ago
  The sick leave has to go through the healthcare system. That said, there are doctors that would just blindly approve, but it's not exactly a norm. A lot of those sick days are also childcare.
  - strictnein 3mo ago
    Genuinely curious now: If you have a cold or a cough, or maybe a slight fever, do you have to talk to a doctor to get a day or two off of work?
    - rascul 3mo ago
      I'm in the USA and I've never had to do more than inform my employer that I'm not coming in because I'm sick. I guess it varies by employer.
    - 3mo ago

cassianoleal 3mo ago

11? And that's good?

strictnein 3mo ago
Where did I claim that? I stated the opposite. I started my sentence with "Could be better for sure". Maybe something is lost in translation? It just means "This could use improvement".
- cassianoleal 3mo ago
  Fair enough! I read "could be better for sure" together with the whole "but" that came after it - meaning even though it could be better, it's not so bad because it averages 11.

xela79 3mo ago

> employment earns 7 sick days ugh, "sick days", what an absurd concept. If you are too unwell to work, you don't go to work , of course, and get paid while at home, until you're healed. Not 7 days, not 2 days, just the amount of days required. putting a number on that. ugh and 11 vacation days. Wauw. After a decades of working in Europe you can get a good amount of holidays. in 2025 I had 49 day of which 20 are that minimum you start out with. Every overtime and outside business hour call also gets recovered, that's an extra 3 days so we've passed 50. but what else is new, in the 80 and 90s workers in US were boasting about doing 80hrs of work each week... like wtf :). They live to work, I prefer to work to live life.

ramijames 2mo ago

"Earning sick leave" is some dystopian bullshit. If you are sick, don't go into work. You don't need to earn it.