OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study are to examine socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with rheumatoid arthritis(RA) and to estimate productivity costs related to RA using data from the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted in 2007(KNHANES IV-1) and 2008(KNHANES IV-2). METHODS: A total of 7559 adults of working age(19≤age<65) were available for analyses, including 99 individuals with RA. Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of subjects with RA were compared with those of subjects without RA. Multiple logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted employment rates of RA population. Percentage of work disability due to RA was estimated using the difference between employment rates of general population without RA and the adjusted employment rates of RA population. All statistical analyses were performed with SURVEY procedure of SAS/STAT® 9.1. RESULTS: The mean age of patients with RA was 50.2 years and 73.0% of them were female. Individuals with RA were older and had lower rates of subjective health awareness, higher rates of activity limitation and lower employment rates than individuals without RA. The percentage of sick leave due to RA was 2.5%. According to the results of multiple logistic regression, subjects with RA were less likely to be employed than subjects without RA (OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.41-0.97). The estimated percentage of work disability due to RA was 11.1%. By using the human capital approach, per capita productivity costs due to work disability were estimated to 3.6 million won($3594) per year.   CONCLUSIONS: In South Korea, the percentages of work disability and sick leave for RA patients were lower than those reported in previous studies. Although other aspects of productivity costs related to RA could not be analyzed, this study could provide several important results concerning productivity costs in patients with RA.