This paper summarizes a comparative study of the impact of market and technological changes on human resources in banks and insurance companies in five countries: France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, and the United States. The research was organized around case studies of changes in 12 firms--9 banks and 3 insurance carriers. The paper discusses the findings by focusing on what they might tell about: (1) the changing nature of employer-based training; (2) the distributional implications of the emergence of core-periphery employment structures within firms for those who may benefit or fail to benefit from employer-based training; and (3) the alleged lack of competitiveness of U.S. firms in world markets. Following the introduction, the paper is divided into four major sections. The first section describes the origins and nature of recent market changes as well as the connection between those changes and technological changes. In the second section, the effect of change on the kind of human resources needed by firms is described, emphasizing the emergence of a new matrix of needed skills. The third section reviews how firms are adjusting to these new needs both by altering the training of their own workers and by reshaping their relationship to the external labor market. The fourth section concludes with a review of current policies and trends that provide lessons for the United States. (KC)