Study: 55 percent of American workers leave vacation days unused each year

A new study says that over the last 15 years, Americans have been taking less and less time off for vacation.

The study, from Project: Time Off, says that for decades, Americans took an average of 20.3 days of vacation each year.

Beginning in 2000, vacation usage fell below that average and has continued to decline. In 2015, vacation usage had fallen to 16 days per year - nearly a full week less, the study says, than the average between 1978 and 2000.

The study also shows that 55 percent of American workers say they left vacation days unused - leaving a total of 658 million unused days across the country.

Project: Time Off reports that 37% of employees who take a reduced amount of vacation time do so out of the fear they would return to a mountain of work. 30% say they believe no one else can do the job.

In addition, 80 percent of employees say that if they felt fully supported and encouraged by their boss, they would be likely to take more time off.

READ THE FULL STUDY: http://www.projecttimeoff.com/research/state-american-vacation-2016