This article shows how an analysis of job types can deepen our understanding of job quality and how job quality varies across 27 European countries. First, using the European Working Conditions Survey 2005, a taxonomy of six job types is developed and their quality established. This taxonomy suggests that there are different types of high- and low-quality jobs. Second, institutional theory is drawn on to examine why job quality varies cross-nationally. The results of a multilevel analysis indicate that national differences in institutional regimes (social democratic, continental, liberal, southern European, transitional) result in cross-national variation in both the level of job quality (i.e. the overall proportions of high- and low-quality jobs) and the nature of job quality (i.e. the particular types of high- and low-quality jobs found). It is concluded that institutional theory is able to explain the level but not the nature of cross-national variation in job quality.
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