OBJECTIVES: Work disability is known to seriously impair individual quality of life and to cause considerable societal costs, primarily due to medical treatment and vocational rehabilitation. Following the WHO model of “disease - functional limitation - work disability”, we analyzed the longitudinal effects of perceived current health and functional limitations on future work disability. METHODS: In 2007, two adult sub-samples of the Kantar Health European Healthcare Panel in Germany and UK were surveyed (n=4.008), and self-reports about perceived health status (SF-12), 24 different disease conditions and occupational status were collected. In 2012 the participants were re-contacted and completed a health status and work disability questionnaire. Careful panel management and quota adjustment ensured the representativeness of the samples for the populations in the countries. RESULTS: In 2007, 48.1% of the sample was full-time (GER:  57.4%; UK: 38.9%) and 12.5% part-time (GER: 10.6%; UK: 14.5%) employed.  Five years later, in 2012, 19% of the previously full- or part-time employed individuals were no longer employed due to health reasons.  Health related unemployment in 2012 was highly correlated with general health status (gamma: 0.70; p<0.01) and functional limitations as measured by the SF-12 subscale in 2007(=0.39; p>0.01). Of those still employed in 2012, 16.2% were impaired in their jobs. Most frequently they had to take breaks more often (7.5%), were restricted in performing typical elements of work (6.1%) or required special tools (2.7%).  CONCLUSIONS: Future amount and nature of work disability of a workforce can be predicted by using conventional measures of perceived health and functional status. The potential use of prognostic considerations to assess the need for preventive and rehabilitative measures will be discussed.