Given the religiosity of the USA - how come no Easter holiday?

[Djinn]

In Australia we've got a 4 day weekend (which is killing me cause I'm tragically wedded to my job) for Easter and from what I gather you guys get diddly?

Surely it's the 'holiest' of holidays? when Jesus was resurrected and saved all mankind and all that.

Given we have the same number of over all public holidays, and despite the official separation of church and state you do still have Christmas as a holiday any ideas as to why no Easter break?

[Uzybone]

1. The religiosity of the USA is vastly exagerrated

usually by those who have plenty to gain from exagerrating how "Christian" of a nation we are.

[havocmom]

11. Nah, US is very religious

But commerce IS god.

[EFerrari]

29. There you go. "The Almighty Dollar".

:thumbsup:

[Djinn]

13. don't know about that

when you look at the percentages of believers it sure looks religious to someone who lives in a nation where less than 9% of the population profess ANY religious beliefs.

When I visit I see a country awash with religiosity, probably not to the extent that the Christian Right make out but it's definitely there.

[Occulus]

38. That's why we don't legislate religious morality.

Oh, wait. I can't get married because of religious people.

[Uzybone]

40. My point still stands despite your strawman

The religiosity of the US is vastly exagerrated. For all the talk of non-religious Europe, how many European countries have same sex marriage?

[EFerrari]

2. Because we work more than any other Western democracy, iirc.

I think many people are let go at noon on Friday but that's about it.

[Djinn]

14. that's not actually true

ILO figures don't hold up the myth that Americans work harder than other western nations.

You have exactly the same number of federal public holidays as Australia does for example and work a shorter number of average hours

[Orrex]

16. Yeah, but Australia's across the date line, so all bets are off

Also, we in the workforce have to endure daily conversations about American Idol, so that makes our work week seem 10X longer than Austalians'.

[EFerrari]

18. Are you sure? I just saw a documentary about mothers being screwed (edit)

in the American workplace. Hmmm.

Edit: Here's a link but I haven't checked the info myself:

Working Hours Worldwide

According to the International Labour Organization, Americans now work more hours than workers in any other industrialized country. In just twenty years Americans have added an hour and a half a week — or over a week of extra work a year.

Perhaps it is not surprising that a 1995 survey by Penn & Schoen Associates, Inc. found that 75 percent of the private sector employees surveyed favored a proposal that would give workers the option of paid time off in lieu of overtime compensation. However, a RoperASW study published in the May 2003 issue MONEY magazine found the opposite — that Americans would rather have more money than more free time — 57 percent to 27 percent. And AMERICAN DEMOGRAPHICS reported on another RoperASW survey from 2001 that found that the top reason for Americans to consider changing jobs was money at 57 percent; more personal time clocked in at just 12 percent.

This disparity may be accounted for by the types of jobs that have seen the greatest increases in hours worked. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, though the average work week has increased by just over an hour and a half a week, the proportion of people who work much longer weeks (48 hours and more) has risen greatly. The occupations which saw the greatest increase in the percentage of workers averaging 48 hours per week or more were professionals and managers (who are most often not paid overtime though they are among the highest-paid workers) and sales and transportation workers (who are among the lowest-paid workers and earn more as they log more hours). The Bureau of Labor Statistics also notes that high unemployment numbers also stimulate salaried workers who are employed to put in more hours each week to safeguard their positions.

Another major group whose yearly working hours have increased is women. American women are much more likely to work than two decades ago, and to work full-time. Between 1976 and 1993 the number of hours worked by U.S. women increased by well over 2 million. A survey women members by the AFL-CIO found that many reported increased stress from longer hours at work. In "Working Mothers in a Double Bind," a study conducted for the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute, a union-supported think tank, researcher Elaine McCrate focused on a goal shared by many women: more control over the hours they work. Flexible schedules are growing, says McCrate, but only for women in upper-echelon jobs and for men.

http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/workhours.html

[Djinn]

19. they likely are

doesn't mean that Americans work longer hours than anyone else, or that working mothers aren't screwed elsewhere.

The ILO has comprehensive studies on working hours and they don't play out the myth, not sure about the PBS link but I'm involved with the ILO and countless studies just don't bear out what you're saying.

I'll have a look at the PBS link to see which study they're referencing because I suspect they've missed some bits of it to get the conclusion they have. For example there is undoubtedly people working horrendous hours in the US, likely more than in comparable nations because so many people can't survive on one income however this doesn't spread evenly across the population.

The average US worker works shorter hours than the average Australian worker

In terms of those countries with the highest incidence of long working hours for 2004-05 (defined as more than 48 hours per week), Peru topped the list at 50.9 per cent of workers (Note 2), the Republic of Korea at 49.5 per cent, Thailand at 46.7 per cent (Note 3), and Pakistan at 44.4 per cent In developed countries, where working hours are typically shorter, the United Kingdom stood at 25.7 per cent, Israel at 25.5 per cent, Australia at 20.4 per cent, Switzerland at 19.2 per cent, and the United States at 18.1 per cent.

http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Media_and_public_information/Press_releases/lang--en/WCMS_082827

Australians have a similar but opposite fondness for the myth that we're bludgers despite having longer working weeks than all of Europe.

[EFerrari]

26. I don't take any pleasure in the idea. I was one of those mothers

and am still pissed about it 30 years later. lol :)

[JDPriestly]

43. Americans work much longer hours than Europeans. Lived both

places and know this for an absolute fact.

[PassingFair]

21. Don't you have mandated vacation periods in Australia?

In the US, employers are not required to
offer ANY vacation days.

None.

[Djinn]

30. yes but it's kind of irrelevant to the post

and to the digression of working hours. BTW those mandated holidays are paid for as a trade off in wages, like our national health care it's not our government bestowing gifts from on high.

You have federal public holidays (including a religious one) but not for Christianity holiest of holidays.

[PassingFair]

35. Our holidays are one day affairs...

and Easter is always on a Sunday.

We DO have Martin Luther King day off
in most offices....

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

39. Yeah, in my last job we didn't have MLK off

I think it was pure racism. We were a branch office, and HO was closed. We were supposed to be closed as well.

[Political Heretic]

45. Those are productivity statistics right? We work more hours.

Note that we passed Japan for #1 in 2004, but everyone is down some hours from 2000... not sure what that's about.

[juno jones]

46. Many of us don't get to take federal holidays off.

We have to man the barricades for the 'Memorial Day Sale, Beerbash and General Hootnanny'.

As for shorter hours, many of us spend the rest of the time, when we aren't working at our pitifully recompensed jobs which are kept at under 40 hours so that our employers don't have to pay for health insurance,figuring out some sideline to make money because we need it for luxuries like healthcare, dentistry and food.

[realisticphish]

3. a lot of schools plan their spring breaks around now

a lot of businesses are closed Sunday, but that's it.

America is religious nominally, and socially, but in terms of daily-life stuff, meh.

[driver8]

4. I had Good Friday off as a union holiday -- I don't know many people who

had it off.

[marybourg]

9. Wall Street. nt.

[jwirr]

5. Easter is always on Sunday thus no need for a work holiday. nt

[havocmom]

12. LOL Huge part of the work force works Sundays

[jwirr]

44. Yes at jobs that also work most holidays. That sector gets help only

if someone voluntarily take their place at the job.

[robinlynne]

6. ssshhhhhh.

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. had a job that gave us 1/2 day off on good friday

[Oregone]

8. 4 day weekend in Canada

:)

[Two Americas]

10. American religiosity

The mainstream traditional religions have been in decline for decades. The apparent increase in religiosity comes from the rise of the religious right and independent Evangelical sects. That is, in my view, an extreme right wing political movement masquerading as religion.

I have attended many of these modern Evangelical services, and they are almost identical to John Birch society rallies from the 50's and 60's and bear little if any resemblance to traditional church services.


...

[BlooInBloo]

15. We just CLAIM to be religious. It's a complete lie.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

17. Because there was an Easter Fail here this year -

He rose from the dead a little while ago (it's now Sunday on the East Coast), saw his shadow, scampered back inside, and now we're in for six more weeks of winter ................

[BlooInBloo]

22. I lol'd

EDIT: Alternative punchline: He saw PEOPLE and scampered back inside for 6000 more years of war, poverty, and hatred.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

24. Well, bundle up -

it gets cold even in Hell, I am told .................

[BlooInBloo]

25. Damn you. You beat me to my edit.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

28. Oh, that's GOOD!

Actually, yours makes a whole lot of sense!

Sorry, my keyboard's sometimes too fast.

That's really good!

:toast:

[BlooInBloo]

32. :) Thanks.

[Ishoutandscream2]

23. Was it Reagan?

[Tangerine LaBamba]

27. Naw, more likely

Nixon scratching at the lid, trying to get out ..................

[Critters2]

20. It's not a huge commercial holiday--not a lot of gift giving.

Also, not the "gotta get home to the family" holiday that Thanksgiving is. So, businesses aren't focused on it as they are on Christmas, and you don't need the day before and after to travel (its falling on Sunday is also part of this, of course).

These are my theories, at least.


Critters
who doesn't get Easter off

[msongs]

31. because christmas has SANTA CLAUS as its star nt

[enlightenment]

33. Does your holiday shift?

Since Easter doesn't always fall on the same day, I think it is probably considered overly problematic to make it a national holiday. We used to recognize Washington's birthday and Lincoln's birthday, but it turned out to be easier to combine them into President's Day and split the difference.

It's about what is convenient.


*edited to complete thought . . . time to go to bed, I think!*

[LostInAnomie]

34. Americans only claim to be religious.

In practice, not so much... unless there is cash involved like Christmas.

[ColbertWatcher]

36. Yes, it is the holiest of holy days, but stop calling us "Shirley." n/t

[WillowTree]

37. The first year I was out of school and working full-time...

....we got Good Friday off as one of our 10 paid holidays per year. The next year they changed us to 8 scheduled holidays and 2 "floating holidays" that we could take when we wanted to, the rationale being that that way people could take Good Friday if they wanted, or people of non-Christian faiths could take days that were more meaningful to them, such as Yom Kippur. It's been that way almost everywhere I've worked in an office environment ever since.

Where I work now, I only do half days on Fridays anyway, so there's still plenty of time for me to get to Church making it a non-issue for me.

[TZ]

41. Because it falls on a Sunday

And actually many if not most stores are closed something seen only on Xmas and Thanksgiving

[JDPriestly]

42. Because it is early spring -- time to plant in much of the U.S.

We were founded by farmers, and farmers don't take vacation time in April -- not more than they have to.

[The Straight Story]

47. The less hours we have to work, less taxes gov gets, less wars we can finance

Pretty simple really :)

[cagesoulman]

48. Many people take "Good Friday" off.

Government offices and banks are usually closed Good Friday as well. It becomes a three-day weekend.