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Survey: 17.8 Million Vacation Days Left Unused By Maryland Workers

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Many Maryland workers could probably use a vacation, according to a new study by Project Time Off.

Maryland is 17th on a list of the 50 states ranked by which had the most unused vacation time in 2016. Apparently, 58 percent of Marylanders reported that they left vacation time unused in 2016. That means the total number of vacation days left unused in Maryland last year is about 17.8 million.

The top-ranked states for unused vacation time were:

1. Idaho -- 78 percent left days unused
2. New Hampshire -- 77 percent
3. Alaska -- 73 percent
4. South Dakota -- 73 percent
5. Oklahoma -- 69 percent
6. Montana -- 67 percent
7. Wyoming -- 66 percent
8. Nebraska -- 66 percent
9. Kansas -- 64 percent
10. Vermont -- 64 percent

The national average for unused vacation days is about 54 percent.

The states that take the most vacation days are:

1. Maine -- 38 percent left days unused
2. Hawaii -- 39
3. Arizona -- 41
4. Alabama -- 41
5. Wisconsin -- 44
6. Arkansas -- 45
7. Pennsylvania -- 45
8. Michigan -- 46
9. Tennessee -- 46
10. Louisiana -- 47

When broken down by city, the data shows that Washington, D.C. workers are the worst at taking vacations, with 64 percent of people leaving days unused. Baltimore ranks 11th on that same list, with 57 percent of workers surrendering vacation days. About 17.3 million D.C. vacation days were unused last year, and about 9.2 million Baltimore vacation days went by the wayside.

"The nation's capital is home to far more government workers than average (40% to 13%), and government workers are more likely to leave vacation time unused," the study says. "With 63 percent of government workers leaving time on the table, it is the second-worst industry at using time off, just after education (65%)"

By contrast, Pittsburgh gets the top spot for using the most vacation days, with just 40 percent of workers leaving days unused.

The cities that have the most unused vacation time:

  1. Washington, D.C. -- 64 percent left days unused (17.3 m unused vacation days)
  2. San Francisco-Oakland, CA  -- 64  (12.8 m unused vacation days)
  3. Tampa, FL -- 62  (5.1 m unused vacation days
  4. Los Angeles, CA -- 62 (32.5 m unused vacation days)
  5. Boston -- 61
  6. Denver -- 60
  7. Riverside-San Bernadino, CA -- 59
  8. Portland, OR -- 58 (5.4 m unused vacation days)
  9. San Antonio, TX -- 58 (5.7 m unused vacation days)
  10. Las Vegas, NV -- 58 (5.4 m unused vacation days)
  11. Baltimore, MD -- 57

Project Time Off says Americans took an average of 20.3 days of vacation for decades, but that average fell in 2000 and hasn't recovered.

Workers report that the reasons behind this include financial struggles, a desire to show complete dedication to the job, fearing that no one else can do the job in their absence and dreading returning from vacation to find a mountain of work waiting for them.

The number of people taking more vacation days has increased since 2014, though.

"The latest data shows the trendline moving in a positive direction, back up to 16.8 days used in 2016, after losing almost a week of vacation time," the study says.

That's good, because workers taking time off can lead to increased worker productivity and a boost to the economy, data shows.

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