The New Republic has a nice editorial on something that should be extremely important from a Catholic point of view — appropriate time away from work. To put it bluntly, Americans still work under conditions that Europeans have not witnessed in generations. While the average American receives a mere 13 days of leave a year, the Canadians manage 26, the Brazilians 34, the French 37, and the Italians 42. Among the economically advanced countries, the US stands apart by not requiring employers to provide paid leave. Shockingly, about a quarter of workers in the American private sector receive no paid leave at all, and those most in need of it (low-wage earners) get less of it.
Part of it is cultural. Many Americans think working incessantly is a sign of virtue (yet again, a sign that the Protestant culture runs deep in the veins of this country). In a survey of those with “extreme jobs” (clocking in over 60 hours a week, extensive travel, tight deadlines) almost half took less than 10 vacation days a year and more than half claimed to cancel leave regularly. And here’s the strange part: almost two-thirds of those polled were perfectly happy with the situation.
I think it is obvious that something in America needs to change. Why do the political groups most espousing “family values” not push for an expansion of mandatory paid leave? Is it because their primary allegiance is to the marketplace?
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