Businesses are becoming more likely to give their employees the day off to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day than they are for Presidents’ Day.
Over the past few years, MLK Day has grown in popularity in the country, outranking holidays like Columbus Day, Presidents’ Day, Veterans Day and Good Friday in the number of offices that shut down for the holiday, reports Bloomberg.
This year, approximately 42 percent of American businesses plan to shut down for Dr. King’s birthday, a Bloomberg Law survey revealed. Almost 72 percent of nonprofits and civil rights organizations will also offer employees a holiday with pay, while only 16 percent of manufacturing businesses will do so.
“I would suppose that there’s more recognition for the need of diversity and the need to recognize the sensitivity of certain holidays,” N. Charles Anderson, the chief executive officer of the Urban League of Detroit and Southeastern Michigan, told Bloomberg.
MLK Day started in 1986 after former President Ronald Reagan signed a 1983 bill making the day into a federal holiday.
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