OBJECTIVES: We examined productivity hours lost due to pain, site of pain, and number of joints affected among workers and non-workers with osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: A total of 4386 self-reported OA patients completed an internet survey. Respondents reported previous week's work or daily activity hours lost due to OA, OA pain (scale 0 - 10, 10= "worst possible" pain over past 24 hours), site(s) of pain, and affected joint(s). Impact of pain, number of affected joints, and site of pain on total hours lost was evaluated using generalized linear regression and including a pain level-employment interaction. RESULTS: Demographics: mean age 55.3 years, 70.8% female, 91.4% white. Average recent OA pain was 4.9. Average hours lost were 10.2 (SD 24.1). Non-workers reported more hours lost (18.2 vs. 1.7; p <0.0001) and higher pain (5.4 vs. 4.5, p <0.0001) than workers. Higher pain was associated with increased lost hours for both groups, but more so for non-workers (p <0.0001). Both workers and non-workers with pain in > 7 joints lost significantly more hours than those with fewer affected joints (3.5 vs. 1.4 for workers, 31.6 vs. 14.1 for non-workers, p <0.0001). Lost hours were significantly greater for lower vs. upper body pain for both groups (1.5 vs. 0.5 for workers, 10.9 vs. 5.6 for non-workers, p <0.0001). Higher pain, pain in > 7 joints, low back pain, and pain-employment interaction predicted hours lost due to OA (all p = 0.05) after controlling for age, race, gender, education, employment, income, and regular medication use. Specific joint sites did not predict lost hours. The pain and pain-employment interaction parameters indicate that non-workers lose more hours than workers at every pain level and this differential increases with higher pain. CONCLUSIONS: Recent OA pain and the number of affected joints but not individual pain site(s) impacted productivity. These effects were greater for non-workers who likely have more severe OA symptoms.