Wages, firm size and absenteeism

This paper examines two competing explanations for workers' absenteeism, th e shirking hypothesis and the adjustment-to-equilibrium hypothesis. Data on German workers for 1985-88 from the German SocioEconomic Panel al-e used i n order to estimate the determinants of workers' absenteeism. The results i ndicate that firm size matters after wage effects are controlled for. This evidence supports the shirking hypothesis.