The U.S. is walking into a whirlwind of reasons to take a few days off. The Fourth of July marks the country’s 250th Independence Day celebrations, and several North American cities are hosting the World Cup on home soil, with knockout matches running straight through the holiday.
New data from HR and payroll platform Deel, released with venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, hints at how many people will use PTO to make the most of the excitement. “All of the data is from companies using Deel, so they are going to skew towards start-ups, tech companies and remote-first firms,” according to the report authors. Bonus: The data is global, so it’s not like U.S. workers are having all the fun.
Read more: World Cup could cost employers $17 billion in lost productivity
A one-day vacation
The long, restful holiday turns out to be a rare event. Across dozens of countries, the data shows most time off gets logged as a single day, even where workers are owed weeks of it. However, since many people choose to use their vacations on Mondays or Fridays, many employees string these days together to take a sought-after long weekend during the summer months.
Cost helps explain why a big trip may not be in the cards for many. A separate Deloitte survey of 4,003 Americans found 45% are planning a summer vacation with lodging they pay for, the lowest share in six years, with affordability the main reason cited by those staying home.
The travelers who remain skew wealthier, with households earning $100,000 or more set to make up 55% of the traveling public, up from 50% in 2025. Many of them plan to spend up too, as 24% intend to raise their marquee trip budgets, compared with 19% a year ago. A summer where fewer people board a plane and more stay close to home fits the single-day, long-weekend habit the Deel numbers describe.
Who is out of office?
Looking at a full calendar year, Germany holds the out-of-office crown, logging more time away than its peers. However, when looking at month-by-month figures, Swedes and Italians take the lead in July and August, while the British stay close to their desks through peak summer and the Dutch save their biggest exit for Christmas.
In Brazil, workers receive 30 days of vacation but have to take it in blocks, capped at three per year, which produces longer breaks than seen elsewhere. India shows a different pattern, with vacation days booked at the last minute, whether that reflects spur-of-the-moment trips or simply late notice to HR.
The “summer Friday” looks more popular abroad than in the U.S., though that may be a recording quirk. “Our guess is that Americans are doing it off the books, rather than formally taking the half-days off,” wrote the researchers.
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