Seeking a Career with Lots of Vacation Time

There may be other professions that offer as much vacation time as those of us in education enjoy, but the bigger question is why are you so focused on vacation time as a factor in choosing a career? To me, that’s almost as bad as when people ask what professions pay the highest salaries? Why? You need to find a career that will give you personal satisfaction — that’s where you will be your happiest and most productive.

Overall, the U.S. lags other Western countries in the number of vacation days offered, with the average around 13 days per year. Entry-level workers often start with one or two weeks of paid vacation. Usually, the longer you are employed and the higher you are within an organization, the more vacation time. When I worked at People magazine, I had six weeks of vacation time (not counting paid holidays, personal time, and sick days). Obviously, these numbers vary by employer/industry/profession.

I think the more telling statistic in this current era of overworking employees to increase productivity is that several studies have shown that the average worker is unable to use his/her allotted vacation days because of work demands. And low-wage workers who actually get vacation time often have to work other jobs during their vacations to make ends meet.