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Using data from the European Community Household Panel ( echp), this article examines the question of the determinants of work absenteeism in fourteen eu Member States ( eu-15 excluding Sweden). Absence behaviours, in each of these countries, are analysed with panel regression models. The results show that the effects of individual and job characteristics on the probability of work absence are far from uniform across eu Member States. Indeed, only three factors have a significant and similar impact in almost all studied countries: having a chronic disease or disability, the level of job satisfaction and, in the case of women, the presence of a young child (less than 3 years old). Classification JEL: J 22, J 28