Sanders Pushes Two Paid Weeks Off for Workers
Sanders Pushes Two Paid Weeks Off for Workers
The News
Labor Day 2026 lands with the United States still the only developed nation that does not require employers to give workers a single paid day off — and with a bill from Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Seth Magaziner that would guarantee every full-time worker two paid weeks a year.
Writing in MS NOW's opinion section on Monday, Helaine Olen argued the holiday honors American workers "in word but not deed," citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing just under 25% of US workers get no paid vacation at all.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus has made paid time away from the job a plank of its affordability agenda and endorsed the Sanders-Magaziner bill, according to the column, which also concedes the measure is "all but certain to go nowhere" in the current Republican-controlled Congress.
The Numbers
Per BLS figures cited in the column, about 80% of professional and managerial workers are eligible for paid vacation, against roughly 60% of service workers. Eligibility runs 96% in finance and 46% in leisure and hospitality.
By comparison, the column notes, all employees in the European Union receive a minimum of 20 vacation days plus paid holidays, while federally regulated workers in Canada get 10 days.
Timeline
United Auto Workers president Walter Reuther tells Congress that advances in technology will deliver shorter work weeks and "longer vacation periods" for American workers.
A Center for American Progress assessment finds white, black and Asian workers are more likely to have access to paid vacation time than latinos.
A Pew Research Center survey finds 1 in 5 black Americans fear being fired for using all their allotted vacation time. A YouGov survey the same year finds 11% of Americans say they will work on Labor Day itself.
Power Line's John Hinderaker posts a Labor Day item on a new WalletHub ranking of the hardest-working states, naming South Dakota first and North Dakota second.
Labor Day. Competing columns land on the same day: a push to mandate paid vacation, a case for employee ownership, and a celebration of the work ethic in the Dakotas.
Reactions
Sanders, an independent from Vermont, has called the American status quo on paid vacation an "international embarrassment," according to the MS NOW column.
Olen argued employers have their own reason to act: workers with paid time off are less likely to quit, more productive and healthier, and replacing employees is expensive. She cited polling showing 80% to 90% support for making paid vacation a right, with little difference between Democrats, Republicans and independents.
On the right, Hinderaker used the WalletHub numbers to praise the Dakotas, writing that the hardest-working states "are all red; no surprise there," and quoting the finding that South Dakotans "boast the highest employment rate in the country, at nearly 98%." He contrasted that with Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who has denounced what El-Sayed calls the "cult of hard work."
A separate Labor Day piece in Forbes by Mary Josephs made a different pitch, describing Employee Stock Ownership Plans as a "win-win-win" for businesses and workers.
What's Next
The Sanders-Magaziner bill has no path in a Republican-run Congress, and the MS NOW column says that calculation only changes if Democrats take one or both chambers in the November elections.
Until then, paid vacation in the US remains a matter of employer policy and state law rather than federal mandate.
More
The WalletHub report behind the holiday-weekend rankings graded all 50 states on "direct" and "indirect" work factors, including average workweek hours, the share of workers leaving vacation time unused, and the share holding multiple jobs.
South Dakota placed first, North Dakota second and Alaska third. New Jersey came 48th, Oregon 49th and Michigan last. WalletHub said South Dakota ranks high in part because 6.5% of its workers hold multiple jobs, the 11th-highest share in the country — which the report acknowledged "may not be an ideal situation, indicating that people's main jobs are not paying them enough."
WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said Americans work longer hours than residents of other developed countries and often leave vacation time on the table, adding that people in the hardest-working states "may need to consider taking a break once in a while."
Poll
Should federal law require employers to offer paid vacation?
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