Workers value paid time off more than health insurance, survey suggests

• More workers said paid leave was extremely important to them than those valuing health insurance.
• That was one finding of a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center.

Workers appear to value paid time off even more than having employer-funded health insurance, a recent study found.

The Pew Research Center report called "How Americans view their jobs" found 62% of the 5,900 people surveyed felt it's "extremely" important to have paid time off for vacations or minor illness, with a further 27% saying it's "very" important.

That's higher than the 51% who said employer-funded health insurance was extremely important, with 28% saying it's very important.

The study also found that almost half of workers who get paid time off don't usually use up all their allocation.

Reasons include not wanting to burden colleagues with additional tasks, or potentially falling behind.

Just over 90% of upper-income workers surveyed by Pew had employer-funded health insurance, dipping to 82% for middle-income workers and just 60% for those on lower incomes.

Only about half of the workers surveyed said they were extremely or very satisfied with their job, with just 34% happy with how much they're paid.

However, two-thirds (67%) said they're either extremely or very satisfied with their relationship with colleagues, with 65% saying they have at least one close friend at work.

Almost 80% say they're treated with respect at work, while 65% their contributions were valued a great deal or a fair amount.

Workers above aged 65 and above were the most likely to be extremely or very satisfied with their job (67%), with those under 30 the least likely (44%).

The nationally representative survey of 5,902 workers, including 5,188 not self-employed, was conducted between February 6 and 12 using Pew's American Trends Panel.