It's not just my imagination. Workers in Brazil enjoy a bumper crop of time off during the year. And as I recall that was not the case in the USA. I'm pretty sure I have that right.Now there is a study that sets the record straight (er - accurate). According to this article in today's Chicago Tribune business section citing a recent study comparing workers' holiday time in 41 countries, Brazilians are at the top of the list of workers with the most time off with 56 days off per year while residents of the United States are near the bottom of that list with roughly 25 days off per year.
I knew there was something about working here that I liked (and it was not the salary!) According to the study, in Brazil the government mandates that employers provide 30 days vacation for workers -- and that is not including public holidays (of which there is a steady stream).
The United States is the only country included in the study where federal law does not set a minimum number of vacation days, but a typical full-time worker with five to 10 years on the job receives about three weeks off per year.
So as people here are fond of saying, Brazilians work to live, not live to work. The flip side is the low wages. As a friend of ours once said: "In Brazil employees pretend to work and then their employers pretend to pay them!"
For me -- I'll take the time at the beach.
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3 comments:
the part that gets me is that on these holidays all stores are closed.... to me this means you are paying the rent but not making any money... = you have to charge more for all your goods and services just to pay the employee costs (INSS & FTGS being very high). the cost of an employee here is 100% if their anual salary is 20K it costs the employer 40K. in the USA a 20K person cost is 26K (maybe now with high health insurance cost it has gone up but was 30%. Wonder what the cost is to the GNP?
The thing the study leaves out - those 30 days include the weekends. In other words, if you take off 2 weeks, in the US you'd be "charged" 10 days, the 10 work days you'd missed. In Brazil, you are "charged" at least 12 because the middle weekend counts against your total. Depending on the company, you could be "charged" for the begin/end weekend as well, bringing that up to 16 days of your 30.
So, the study is a tad misleading.
But only a tad. The holidays definitely come at a steady stream.
(hope you don't mind I followed your profile over to your blog!)
Welcome Heather. =8^)
I'm just starting to dig into your blog as well.
Nice to have you here.
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