Italians have the opposite problem - too much spare time (at least, all at once). When I lived in Italy I was astonished that the entire country could effectively shut down for an entire month (ferragosto). I mean, come on, at least stagger your vacations so that everyone doesn't take leave all at the same time...
The same could probably be said for Norway too. I think it's a good thing, mind. Everyone gets 5 weeks off now, in general. usually 4 weeks in summer (the rest to be used for Easter, Christmas or at employees discretion in agreement with the employer), that matches up with the school holiday. I suppose there'd technically be room to shift those weeks a bit, but then how can you make sure everyone in a household have holidays together, assuming two working parents?
That's true for pretty much most of Europe, in my experience; though as you move further north it's during July instead of August. The most common here in Denmark is the last three weeks of July.
I really like working in July, the whole city is empty and nobody bothers me because they're on vacation :)
True, in my company we can't afford to shut in August considered that 90% of our clients are outside Italy. But generally speaking it goes that way. Possibly paid holidays lower the average then.
(BTW: ferragosto is just one day - Aug 15th)
