Three in Ten Organizations Will Close for Business on Martin Luther King Day

ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In observance of Martin Luther King Day, slightly more than three in ten employers (31 percent) will give all or most workers a paid holiday on Monday, January 16, according to Bloomberg BNA's most recent survey of holiday practices.

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This is only a marginal 1 percentage-point change from figures reported by employers for 2011 (30 percent). While up slightly from 2010 levels (28 percent), this 2012 employer report is identical with that reported for 2009 (31 percent). While there has been no significant change over the past six years in the proportion of organizations giving Martin Luther King Day as a paid holiday, recent levels of paid leave on Martin Luther King Day are a significant increase over what was observed in the first 11 years of this holiday. Only 14 percent of surveyed employers made Martin Luther King Day a paid holiday in 1987 and figures stayed in the teens for seven years until a spike in 1994 (24 percent). Figures remained in the low to mid-20 percent range before climbing to 30 percent for the first time in 2004.

Consistent with past years, nonbusiness employers are much more likely to make Martin Luther King Day a paid holiday than are nonmanufacturing or manufacturing establishments.  More than six in ten nonbusiness organizations (61 percent) will make January 16 a paid holiday, compared with 23 percent of nonmanufacturing firms and 8 percent of manufacturers.

Organizations with a union presence are somewhat more likely than those without one to designate Martin Luther King Day as a paid holiday (41 percent of unionized establishments compared with 29 percent of nonunion organizations). Larger organizations with 1,000 or more employees are more apt than their smaller counterparts to give their employees paid time off on Martin Luther King Day (39 percent versus 28 percent).  

Sample: A cross-section of 392 employers responded to a web-based survey administered from September 19 to September 30, 2011. Of these 78 percent employ fewer than 1,000 workers, while 22 percent employ 1,000 workers or more. Twenty percent of those participating were manufacturing firms, 51 percent were services/nonmanufacturing companies, and 29 percent were nonbusiness organizations.  Nonunion establishments make up 79 percent of the survey sample, while the remaining 21 percent employ at least some union-represented workers.

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SOURCE Bloomberg BNA