November 9, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Paid vacation and length of service

In 1997, paid vacation days for full-time employees in medium and large private establishments increased with length of service, peaking for workers with 30 or more years of service.

Paid vacations: Average number of days for full-time employees, medium and large private establishments, 1997
[Chart data—TXT]

After 1 year of service, employees averaged 9.6 paid days of vacation per year. At 5 years of service, the average was 13.8 days. Thereafter, with each 5-year increment in length of service, the average number of paid vacation days increased, reaching a high of 21.7 days at 30 years of service.

The number of additional days of paid vacation decreased with length of service for each 5-year increment. Going from 5 to 10 years of service, workers received 3.1 additional paid vacation days on average. Advancing from 25 to 30 years of service, they received an additional 0.2 day on average.

These data are a product of the BLS

Employee Benefits Survey. Find out more in Employee Benefits in Medium and Large Private Establishments, 1997, Bulletin 2517(PDF 804 K). Medium and large establishments have 100 or more workers.