Digital Transformation in the Socio-Labor Sphere: New Challenges and Opportunities

The article presents an overview of digital transformation challenges concerning labor relations, workforce and social safety net programs regulations, with focus on the IT skills shortage, limited digital proficiency, the widening gap between college graduates and labor market needs. The current debate is for the most part being focused on the declining demand for labor force. And much more attention should be devoted to the ways digitalization is changing the structure of jobs and shifting the demand for skills. Though young people are more likely than older workers to have digital skills, a large number of them also join those who neither be employed, nor in education or training. And among new forms of employment, many of them do not qualify for different benefits which traditionally go along with the job place, such as employer-sponsored pension plans, health insurance, etc., and demand new social guarantees. So, the lack of government policy in bridging digital divide between the labor qualification and the demand for new skills among different groups of population (by age, income, other factors) may retard national digital development. Existing institutions and regulation systems need to be modernized in order to respond to digital changes. The federal agency on the digital platform should have wide range of functions, providing a framework that outlines key goals and objectives to ensure building digital entrepreneurial ecosystems; to aid, counsel, assist and protect employees, identifying key trends at the national and regional levels. Among the main directions of such agency’s activities – reskilling and training programs to prepare people for the employment challenges in partnership with business and colleges; through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations.