This report examines employment in terms of fundamental, long-range economic change and describes activities of the National Commission for Employment Policy. Part I assesses labor market changes as a first step in developing employment policies that will serve the needs of America in the 1980s and beyond. It considers the changing labor force; changes in industries and occupations in response to high technology innovations, development of new industries, disappearance of jobs in some older manufacturing industries, and emergence of an increasingly service-oriented economy; and the slowdown in productivity growth. Some basic questions are listed that policymakers should address in formulating employment policies. Part II briefly describes completed and ongoing projects in the following major areas: enactment and implementation of the Job Training Partnership Act; labor market problems of Hispanics, older Americans, and displaced workers as well as the employment needs of business. Appendixes identify changes in commission membership and staff and contain comments on published reports of the National Advisory Council on Vocational Education. (YLB)