In the 25 years between 1976 and 2000, American workers used 20.3 days of the vacation time they had earned. Since then, U.S. workers report that they take just 16 days of their earned vacation, nearly a full-week less than they’ve earned. That translates to a dollar value of $52.4 billion a year.

At least a portion of that is carried by employers as a liability that must be paid to employees who leave the company, in cases where there is no “use-it-or-lose-it” vacation policy.

The data comes from a study that Oxford Economics conducted for Travel Effect, the U.S. Travel Association’s research initiative created to prove the benefits that come from employees actually taking the vacation time they have earned.

According to Travel Effect, the average American worker earns 21 days of paid time off (PTO) annually but uses just 77% of that time, forfeiting 4.9 days a year. Some employees are allowed to bank PTO, but nearly a quarter lose accrued time off not taken by the end of the year. Only 47% are allowed to bank unused PTO and 30% are allowed to bank only five days or less.

The result: 169 million days of vacation — about 1.6 per employee — are lost. The researchers calculate the value of one day of foregone vacation is $504 per employee, yielding the total dollar value of $52.4 billion in forfeited PTO.

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Why do we do it? According to a survey the U.S. Travel Association published in August, the four reasons most often cited were:

• A dread of returning from a vacation to piles of work (40%)
• The belief that no one will be able to step in and do their job while they’re gone (35%)
• An inability to afford taking the time off (33%)
• The fear of being seen as replaceable (22%)

The group’s CEO noted:

Americans suffer from a work martyr complex. In part, it’s because “busyness” is something we wear as a badge of honor. But it’s also because we’re emerging from a tough economy and many feel less secure in their jobs. Unfortunately, workers do not seem to realize that forfeiting their vacation time comes at the expense of their overall health, well-being and relationships.

The new analysis found no link between putting in more time at work and getting a raise or bonus: “In fact, employees who left 11-15 days of PTO unused last year are actually less likely (6.5% less likely) to have received a raise or bonus in the past three years.” A clear correlation was also detected between employees who have more unused PTO and those who reported feeling “very” or “extremely” stressed at work.

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