American vacations compare poorly with those of most other advanced countries. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American full-time worker puts in a 40-hour week, gets 11 official holidays and 12 days -- slightly more than two weeks -- of paid vacation. That's typically after five years on the job. Among major industrial countries, only the U.S. doles out vacation time primarily as a reward for seniority rather than as a basic job benefit.