Feeling Refreshed for the Fall? Unlikely

A national telephone survey of 1,000 adults found that just 33% of respondents took a summer vacation this year. That’s down from 41% last year and 37% in 2009. However, the results aren’t far off expectations ahead of the summer season, when 38% of American adults planned to take a summer vacation, while 54% knew it wouldn’t happen. 

Men are more likely than women to have taken a summer vacation in 2011. Married adults and adults with children living at home are more likely to have gone on vacation compared to adults who are not married and don’t have kids at home.While 48% of government workers took a summer vacation this year, just 32% of employees in private companies did the same, according to Rasmussen. Overall, 39% of American workers say they took a summer vacation last year, while 58% did not.  

Of those who took vacations these past two summers, 51% say current economic conditions forced them to cut back on spending, though nearly as many (47%) say the current economy did not force them to cut back on their summer vacation. 

As for the Labor Day just past, 53% of adults think of the day as the unofficial end of summer. Just 34% actually celebrate the “labor” part of the holiday instead, honoring the contributions workers, particularly in organized labor, have made to society. Thirteen percent (13%) are undecided which is more important on Labor Day. A slightly higher number of adults are honoring workers this year compared to last year.