This essay describes the changes that have taken place in employment practices andregulation in advanced industrial countries. It first canvasses employment trends to show that job security and the other features of the standard contract of employment are fading. It then describes some measures undertaken in some countries and regions to try to protectworkers and to ameliorate the insecurity that present practices human resource practices generate. It concludes by considering what countries can learn from ameliorative policies and programs in other countries.