Abstract

The data on leave in Germany is very inadequate. Although there are data on the standard collectively agreed leave in certain sectors of the economy, there are no data on the actual annual leave entitlement of employees. Current survey data on the extent to which this deviates from the actual annual holiday entitlement of employees - especially in companies not bound by collective agreements - or the extent to which employees do not (or cannot) exhaust their holiday entitlement are not available. Therefore, questions on this were included in two IAB surveys. Firstly, in the IAB job survey, which asks about the average number of days of leave taken at the company level, and secondly, in the IAB Online Panel for Labour Market Research (IAB-OPAL), which contains a section of questions on employees' leave entitlement and actual take-up. The survey refers to the year 2023 and will take place via IAB-SE in the 4th quarter of 2023, via IAB-OPAL in the first quarter of 2024. The generation of comprehensive data helps to analyse holiday patterns in Germany in more detail. Furthermore, a correct estimation of the average annual leave is of great interest for the determination of the average annual working time in the IAB working time calculation. If the collectively agreed holiday entitlement significantly exceeds the holiday actually taken, then the actual annual working time would be underestimated.