Which Canadian jobs are most likely to provide paid vacation leave?

The number of Canadians with paid vacation leave has continued to grow over the past five years, according to Statistics Canada (StatCan).

Specifically, 72.9% of employees had access to this benefit in 2024.

That is up from 70.3% in 2021, 71.0% in 2022, and 72.4% in 2023.

“Access to paid vacation leave is an important consideration for quality of employment and is associated with greater job satisfaction and well-being,” says Brittany Etmanski, unit head at StatCan.

“In the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s (UNECE) quality of employment framework, the paid leave entitlement indicator refers to the percentage of employees entitled to paid vacation leave in their main job.”

It is important for both employers and employees to familiarize themselves with the requirements of the Employment Standards Act (ESA) around vacation entitlements to ensure compliance, avoid any potential disputes and ensure that they are providing the desired incentive, one expert previously noted.

Which workers are most likely to have paid vacation leave?

Permanent employees were much more likely to have paid leave than non-permanent workers, according to StatCan’s report based on its Labour Force Survey (LFS).

In 2024, 78.0% of permanent employees reported being entitled to paid vacation, compared to just 32.0% of non-permanent employees. Among non-permanent workers, those in seasonal (20.8%) and casual (15.1%) positions had the smallest rates of entitlement. Employees with at least one year of job tenure were also more likely to have access to paid leave (72.9%) than those with less than a year on the job (49.3%).

The report also highlighted differences by occupation and region. Employees in management occupations had the highest rate of paid leave entitlement at 92.2%, followed by those in natural and applied sciences at 90.3%. In contrast, just over half of employees in natural resources and agriculture (51.5%), arts, culture, recreation and sport (53.3%), and sales and service (54.1%) had access to paid vacation leave.

Regionally, Quebec led the country with 79.0% of employees entitled to paid leave, while Prince Edward Island had the least at 66.5%.

Public sector employees were more likely to have paid vacation leave than those in the private sector. In 2024, 81.7% of public sector employees had access to paid leave, compared to 70.0% in the private sector. StatCan attributes this difference in part to higher unionisation rates and collective agreements in the public sector.

The report also found that racialised employees were less likely to have access to paid vacation leave than non-racialised, non-Indigenous employees. West Asian (66.1%), Black (69.1%), South Asian (69.3%), Arab (70.3%), and Southeast Asian (71.0%) employees all had lower rates of paid leave entitlement than the national average. StatCan notes that higher rates of non-permanent employment and shorter job tenure among these groups contribute to the disparity.

Just under a third (31%) of workers in Canada took all of their allotted vacation time for 2024, ADP previously reported.

How to encourage workers to take vacation days

Here are five suggestions to inspire staff to take a vacation, according to Robert Half:

1. Remind staff to book annual leave in advance: Start by having an open conversation with your staff about their unused annual leave. Find out if they’re planning any exciting trips and remind them to book holidays as far in advance as possible, so you can be prepared.
2. Ensure there is appropriate cover: Employees can worry about taking annual leave as tasks will get left and new tasks will continue to add up during their leave. Work with employees to find a suitable solution.
3. Encourage staff to switch off during annual leave: If staff continue to check emails throughout their holiday, it can be just as bad as not taking time off at all. While having appropriate cover can help, suggest staff set themselves ground rules.
4. Energise your workforce: Create a work environment in which employees feel secure taking their accrued holiday leave. This offers the opportunity to improve the mood and productivity of your workers. It can also help you better manage your workforce.
5. Help staff ease back into work after their leave: Try to avoid lining up lots of new projects or meetings for their first week back. Otherwise, they may come back and feel like they already need another holiday.

More than 3 in 5 employees across the world feel "vacation deprived,” according to a previous Expedia report.