Yeah, if you're in a career path that requires actual written contracts, you will generally get to include clauses that, while not protecting you from at-will termination, at least soften the blow with a severance package. Of course, they also tend to come with clauses including things like the repayment of moving assistance if you quit too soon, non-compete clauses, voiding of the severance if you quit, things like that. (And they are understandable clauses, too, although most non-competes are written WAY too broadly to be enforcable.) If you try to argue against at-will, they break out paid-for-study after paid-for-study indicating that profits go down when you have to show cause to terminate an employee.
Probably 95% of Americans, however, are stuck with straight-up at-will employment with no protections at all. And even then, some employers go out of their way to abuse it.
Hell, Wal-Mart makes any hourly employee who works 40 hours sign a waiver that week indicating that they agree that they are not full time, that that 40 hour week is not their standard work week, and that they waive any and all claims to benefits arising from full-time employment for that particular week. (One of my best friends is dating a Wal-Mart employee, and she has to sign that nearly every week.) It's 100% illegal, but it's not like you can successfully sue them.
