Abstract. In the context of the Romania's integration into the EU, as resources become more limited and constrains more acute, expectations for government services have become more demanding. Regarding labour market these changes had a significant impact on the Public Employment Services(PES). At the beginning of the new millennium the challenges facing the PES are considerable mostly because of some external problems such as: structural unemployment; social exclusion; the vulnerability of many workers because of shortage of decent work; less stability in employment and careers; an increasing demand for lifelong education and learning; public concern about the escalating costs of social security; a multiplicity of public and private labour markets actors. As it is argued in many recent studies: "there is a general agreement on the need to shift the focus of the labour market policies from the passive provision of income support to more active measures which assist reemployment." Being considered, as well, an objective for the developing countries, as Romania, a country that wants the labour market to be flexible, and also wants a fast economic growth and that is joining to an economy based on knowledge is stimulating the development of the service sector, a key factor of national competitiveness.

Keywords: flexible labour market; lifelong education; human intelligence; individual employability; service sector; national competitiveness.