Work in August? Non!

AS an American who lives in Paris, I am always amazed at the way the French close up shop and go on vacation for the whole month of August. It's a sacred rite, sanctioned by the law that gives French workers five weeks of paid vacation a year. Many head to the beach or vacation homes in the country. Others spend the month traveling to such far-away places as India, French Polynesia and the Seychelles.

Unlike those Americans who earn considerable time off but don't take it, the French feel no compunction about being away from the job during what is known as \o7le conge annuel\f7, although a certain cadre of Paris hot dogs have begun staying at their desks in August just to show how important they are.

American workers, on the other hand, tend to let unused vacation days accumulate, partly because of the demands of high-intensity jobs in a competitive workplace.

A recent Expedia.com study reported that Americans save their employers more than $21 billion a year in unused vacation time.

When Americans do go away, it's usually just for a long weekend, according to the 2006 National Leisure Travel Monitor, a study conducted by the marketing company Yesawich Pepperdine Brown & Russell/Yankelovich Inc., which gives them no time to see St. Petersburg, Fla., or Angkor Wat, Cambodia. And no matter where they go, they tend to take the workplace with them in the form of laptop computers and cellphones.

This year, French workers are celebrating the 70th anniversary of the paid vacation, enacted into law in 1936, when the socialist Front Populaire came briefly into power. Its leader, Prime Minister Leon Blum, created a governmental department for sports and leisure, which detractors called the Ministry of Laziness.

It negotiated a 40% reduction on train tickets so workers newly blessed with two weeks off could afford to go somewhere. A third week of paid vacation was mandated in 1956, a fourth in 1969 and a fifth under President Francois Mitterrand.

From the start, the French vacation impetus was connected with the belief that good workers deserve paid time off. Rustic vacation camps for the middle class were established, including some that ultimately became part of the Club Med chain. French workers from the big city, unaccustomed to leisure pursuits, had to learn how to vacation, picnic in the countryside and dip their toes in the surf.