You’ll Never Believe Where We Are Hiding $224 Billion

They say time is money, and it’s true: Americans collectively have $224 billion in accumulated vacation time at private-sector corporations.

A new report commissioned by the U.S. Travel Association says this massive amount of unused vacation time, nearly half the size of the federal deficit, can languish on companies’ books for months or years. “The average vacation liability per employee totals $1,898, and in some companies studied is more than $12,000 per employee,” the report says.

The USTA says there are indications that this practice is increasing. “It’s telling that the liability grew by $65.6 billion from 2014 to 2015,” says Cait DeBaun, spokeswoman for the association’s Project: Time Off initiative. “This isn’t surprising, as Americans are taking the least amount of vacation time in nearly four decades.” (The USTA’s mission is to get people to take more vacations.)

When we don’t use our vacation time, it’s the equivalent of leaving money on the table. We forfeit more than $52 billion in unused time off (rollover days that expire, etc.) every year, and American workers roll over an average of more than a workweek from one year to the next.

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