The need to increase the flexibility of the labour market and its adaptability to various shocks requires reconfiguration of its institutions by the government authorities in order to most fully correspond to modern socio-economic conditions. The main purpose of this article is to compare the two stages of labour market reform (1990–2007 and 2008–2017) in the OECD countries. The analysis focuses on the most important labour market institutions: employment protection legislation, wage setting system and active programs. The task of the study is to identify the main vector of these changes, to analyze the features and consequences of the transformations being carried out, and most importantly, answer the question whether the new regulatory norms have contributed to the labour market flexibility. The study is based on institutional analysis. In the domestic literature, the reform of the labour market in developed and transitional economies is considered either in the country aspect or in relation to specific areas of reform. The peculiarity of this work is the interrelated analysis of the reform of the three main labour market institutions, as well as getting an answer to the question of why, after  almost two decades of reforms, a new reconfiguration of labour market policies was required. The main sources of statistical information are: OECD Employment and Labour Market Statistics Database; Employment Protection Database (2013 update); Database of Public expenditure and participant shares on LMP. Acquaintance with the main directions of such reforms in the OECD countries, their positive outcomes and possible negative consequences will allow the government bodies of the Russian Federation to choose the most optimal variant of institutional changes.