Since today is Independence Day in the US, it may be appropriate to ponder just what kind of freedom Americans are enjoying nowadays.
It's certainly not independence from work: United Press International (UPI) reports that workers in the US have less free time than any of their peers in other industrialised countries.
Americans have no legal guarantees of vacation time, says UPI.
US workers take an average of 10.2 vacation days a year after three years on the job, according to the US's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In contrast, workers in the UK are guaranteed 20 paid vacation days by law and take an average of 25 days off a year.
Even in Japan, workers have a legal right to 10 days off and take an average of almost 18 vacation days a year, according to an ABCNews.com report.
US workplace experts say they also notice another trend - people who go on holiday but don't really leave the office; instead, they use at least some of their time off to do more work.