The Friday File: Between 1976 and 2000, Americans used an average of 20.3 vacation days/year. Since then, it’s steadily declined and now stands at just 16 days/year. As some of the unused days cannot be paid out, banked or rolled over, Americans lose 169 million vacation days/year. Worse, this lack of vacationing costs the economy $275 billion in lost spending, an amazing 1.7% of GDP, proving that time is money!