Report: U.S. Only 'Rich' Country That Doesn't Require Employers To Provide Paid Vacation Time

By Chelsea Karnash

WASHINGTON, D.C. (CBS) – If the influx of warm summer air has you daydreaming about a vacation, apologies for bursting your bubble.

According to a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the United States is seriously lagging when it comes to offering workers paid vacation time.

In fact, we're the only "rich" country in the world that doesn't require employers to provide workers with paid vacation time.

In Europe, employees have legal rights to at least 20 paid vacation days a year, with some countries mandating 25 or even 30 days of paid vacation. Canada and Japan both offer at least 10 paid days off as well.

When considering paid holidays, the gap between the U.S. and other advanced countries grows even wider. While we have -- count 'em -- zero legally mandated paid holidays off, most of the world's other wealthy countries offer at least six.

And to add insult to injury, it appears that in America, the paid vacation days workers do get are also distributed unequally, with 90% of high-wage workers and only 49% of low-wage earners receiving any paid vacation time.

Outraged and appalled? Start planning a move to France, where workers have 30 days of paid vacation per year, or the U.K., which offers employees 28 days per year.

To see the full report, visit: www.cepr.net/documents/publications/no-vacation-update-2013-05.pdf