EN



ВПЛИВ ЦИФРОВОЇ ЕКОНОМІКИ НА РИНОК ПРАЦІ


 J01 

IMPACT OF THE DIGITAL ECONOMY ON THE LABOR MARKET

 

https://doi.org/10.36994/2707-4110-2025-14-41-18

 

Larisa Lavrynenko, Candidate of Economics, Senior Researcher,

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7104-6079

Pavlo Tsymbalii, postgraduate student

Open International University of Human Development “Ukraine”, Kyiv, Ukraine[1]

 

Abstract. The current stage of development of digitalization poses serious challenges for the labor market. It is noted that in the context of digitalization of the economy, the labor market is undergoing tremendous changes. Digitalization has a significant impact on the labor market, it modifies the skills structure of modern workers, working conditions and employment dynamics.

Keywords: digital economy, labor market, labor resources, labor sphere, labor force.

ВПЛИВ ЦИФРОВОЇ ЕКОНОМІКИ НА РИНОК ПРАЦІ

Лавриненко Лариса, к.е.н., ЗВО «Університет «Україна»

Цимбалій Павло, аспірант, ЗВО «Університет «Україна»

Анотація. Сучасний етап розвитку цифровізації ставить перед ринком праці серйозні виклики. Зазначається, що в умовах цифровізації економіки ринок праці зазнає колосальних змін. Цифровізація має значний вплив на ринок праці, вона змінює структуру навичок сучасних працівників, умови праці та динаміку зайнятості.

Ключові слова: цифрова економіка, ринок праці, трудові ресурси, сфера праці, робоча сила.

 

Introduction.

The modern reality has become the rapid development of digitalization, which transforms the life of society in many aspects. These transformations have led to the emergence of a new level of quality of life, when people's priorities change, the needs for self-realization and intellectual development become paramount through increasing the educational level, qualifications and improving one's own skills and competence. In the conditions of modern development, it is scientific knowledge that turns into a real driving force. This is manifested in scientific and technological progress, which expands human capabilities, developing new types of activities, reducing production time, etc.

During the restoration of Ukraine in the post-war future, experts predict that domestic business will face the following problems: lack of knowledge, expertise and technologies, shortage of personnel, difficulty in obtaining financing for restoration, as well as difficulties in adapting to new conditions. Also, increasing competition, lack of solvent customers, limited access to cheap financial resources, etc. can be a challenge for entrepreneurs. Today, one of the priority issues is to promote the continued digitalization of services, in particular in the field of healthcare, educational processes, phytosanitary control, as well as the digitalization of all customs clearance processes. Digitalization provides more opportunities for society and has many benefits.

Purpose and methods

The purpose of the article is to determine the impact of the digital economy on the labor market, its current trends and promising development trends. Based on modern research methods, the directions and features of the development of the labor market in modern conditions, as well as its prospects in the context of global trends, are considered. It is determined that digitalization significantly affects the labor market through changes in demand for individual professions and specialties, the demand for new professional skills of employees, the formation of modern working conditions and, accordingly, the dynamics of employment.

The negative and positive consequences of the implementation of digitalization, informatization and robotization are substantiated. The need to form new approaches to training and education, in particular, regarding the digital literacy of the population, is noted. It is proven that the development of the virtual labor market is able to mitigate the contradictory consequences of the impact of digitalization of the economy on the labor sphere, as it contributes to the rational distribution of labor resources in the global information space, which ensures a balance of interests within the framework of social partnership.

Research results

Today, digital technologies have penetrated all spheres of life in modern society. According to the information (1) presented in the ranking of the state of digitalization for 2023, it is possible to distinguish those states - economies that are distinguished by both a high initial level of digitalization and a powerful pace of development of this sphere - the leaders of the ranking, which demonstrate themselves as "digital countries", are the USA, the Netherlands, Singapore, Denmark and Switzerland. It is worth noting that Denmark in 2022 took first place in the overall ranking, this year it dropped to fourth position due to a decrease in the factors "Readiness for the Future" and "Technology". At the same time, the USA, which for the first time dropped to 2nd place in the 2022 ranking, regained its leadership last year.

Of course, the business community and governments of countries around the world, including Ukraine, are aware of the need to accelerate the processes of digitalization and digital transformation of the economy in order to achieve competitive positions of the new world economy that is being formed in the digital space.

The digital economy sets the vector by which socio-economic systems of the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels will develop in the long term. As Mykhailo Fedorov, Vice Prime Minister - Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine (2) noted: “Digitalization is very important for the economy of Ukraine, as it will allow to increase the number of new jobs and help to achieve at least 4% additional GDP growth per year. The opening of new segments and industries will accelerate the development of industry and business. For Ukrainians, digitalization means full access to digital infrastructure and high-quality state and social services.” Of course, the digital economy is one of the main vectors of development of the Ukrainian economy, including the labor market.

Virtual labor market

The use of modern digital technologies creates the prerequisites for the emergence of new objects and subjects of market interaction, modifies the principles of coordination of their activities, diversifies the forms and increases the intensity of communications in virtual space. These changes are accompanied by the expansion of the boundaries of traditional markets and the emergence of qualitatively new market structures. In particular, this is the virtual labor market, which today is very rapidly integrating into the national labor market. Thus, the virtual labor market, having its own development resources and possessing significant potential for creating new highly qualified jobs, can become an important source of innovative employment and a factor in increasing labor productivity.

The labor market belongs to the type of markets that is largely developing under the influence of environmental factors. The main trends in its development are the digitalization of the economy and globalization.

In the case of digitalization of the economy, the labor market undergoes enormous changes. Today, one can observe a tendency of slow disappearance of such professions as accountant, lawyer, economist, and the demand for IT specialists, engineers, etc. is growing (3). This factor can lead to social inequality and an increase in the number of unemployed. It is necessary to conduct a well-thought-out policy related to supporting the population in advance, to respond quickly to environmental changes and challenges: to develop comprehensive programs for retraining personnel and continuous training. It should be noted that the robotization (replacement of a person with a robot) of production will have a strong impact on the labor market. Digitalization significantly affects the labor market, it modifies the structure of skills of modern workers, working conditions and employment dynamics.

The advantages of the development of the digital economy are that the labor market needs creatively thinking people - creators. A person deprived of creative and computational thinking can be displaced by competition in the world of "smart things". The conditions of labor organization are aimed at motivating employees and improving their skills, continuous training and retraining. This must be done through the widespread implementation of networked exchange of best practices and digital learning techniques.

Current labor market trends

The negative consequences of the development of the labor market are "digitalization" and "informatization". Modern network technologies usually provide communication without the need for direct contact with buyers, many guarantee anonymity. Under certain conditions, a person may find himself completely alone. In the near future, serious changes can be predicted in the sectors of the economy. Digital technologies are not related to any one industry, their application can be as broad and pervasive as possible. This is both good and bad at the same time.

Digitalization will increase the level of the country's economy, will ensure access to leading positions in the world market. However, there is a negative effect that affects people employed in the production of products and services. Advanced technologies will reduce the number of people in production to a minimum. It should be noted that the problems of adaptation to the complex environment of the information society in a certain category of people (elderly people, the poor, those who do not have sufficient education). Problems will also arise in medium-skilled workers who can be employed directly in production and can be displaced by the robotization of production. This will cause the mass of the unemployed population to grow for these reasons.

The world is changing rapidly. The labor market is on the verge of a significant transformation. Among the main trends are the following (4):

- Remote work as a way of life. The transition to remote work has occurred since 2010 and to the present (taking into account the trends that have affected our country). And although most companies began to attract freelancers, transfer employees to remote employment and create remote or mixed teams, the main approaches to remote employment were formed in the early 2010s. And today is marked by the fact that this trend has only been consolidated.

- Formation of new labor relations and new labor ethics. Approaches to regulating the interaction of robots, artificial intelligence and people are already being developed. Therefore, in the coming years, humanity will come to the point where the rights of each of these categories will change and be regulated differently from today. Teams will be formed in which the work of people, robots and artificial intelligence will be combined.

- Transformation of social norms, values ​​and consumption. Already today, we can observe the rejection of the use of individual things and the transition to general use.

- Formation of a new structure of personal income. Currently, a person’s personal data – in particular, his preferences, interests, habits, consumption structure, information and knowledge – are already very valuable. And in the near future they may turn into a commodity or currency. And this will significantly change society, including the labor market.

Labor market transformation

In recent years, the labor market has been significantly transformed. Thus, according to a report by the World Economic Forum, by 2028, 75 million people in the world will lose their jobs, in particular, due to the rapid development of technology and innovation, we are talking about professions that can be completely automated or replaced by any services (1). For example, the most in demand during the pandemic are travel agents, website designers, accountants. A few years ago, professions that were considered “low” have emerged: couriers, food suppliers, orderlies, nurses. That is, this phenomenon can be compared to seasonal changes in the labor market. At the same time, everyone who wants to stay afloat will have to learn to live in a new way - to motivate themselves independently, to concentrate on work. It is necessary to take advanced training courses, improve your digital skills, constantly learn something new - only those specialists who are ready for continuous growth will be in demand, and therefore there is an urgent need to form new approaches to training and education. They consist in preparing for life, and not only for work, as was the case under the previous economic paradigm.

The concepts of "work", "employment" and "income" are already transforming, and in the future they will have a modified meaning. The decisive factor in maintaining employment or obtaining a position (if we are talking about highly qualified work) will be the ability to be flexible and adaptable in thinking.

In the next 20 years, machines will replace many professions, as the market economy requires enterprises and companies to constantly improve efficiency and maximize profits. Automation in many industries will lead to the emergence of new jobs that can be filled by developers of unique software, engineers and analysts, but this will reduce the number of currently employed medium-skilled specialists who can be replaced by robots. There is no doubt that the prospects of the Ukrainian virtual labor market will largely depend on the speed and efficiency of overcoming the barriers that hinder its development.

The development of the virtual labor market is objectively determined by the results of the mass distribution of information and communication technologies and digital platforms, their cheapness, as well as the formation of a global information space. The new information and technological basis fills work with information content, stimulates the development of qualitatively new forms of object-subject interaction. Fundamentally different forms of interaction between market entities and even the set of conditions through which one person comes into contact with another allow us to argue about the emergence of a virtual labor market.

The virtual labor market is able to mitigate the contradictory consequences of the impact of the digitalization of the economy on the labor sphere. And only the combination of various approaches will allow developing a model of the virtual labor market that promotes its active interaction with the real labor market, the rational distribution of the country's labor resources in the global information space, which ensures a balance of interests of economic entities within the framework of social partnership.

Conclusions

Thus, the digital economy will lead to the emergence of "smart" cities, transport and agriculture, the absence of digital inequality in individual regions, and an increase in digital literacy among the population. But we should not forget about the negative aspects of this area - the clogging of the information space, the violation of the security of the confidentiality of personal data of the population, the shortage of highly educated personnel, the emergence of a large number of unemployed people, which appeared as a result of the implementation of the digital economy. In this case, the consequences of the development of the digital economy have more positive advantages, so this direction of the economy should be developed and implemented in all regions of the country and all aspects of public life.

References

1. The most digital countries in the world: 2023 ranking. – [Electronic resource]. – Access mode: https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/mdai/press/article/details/138991

2. Mikhail Fedorov. Digitalization of the economy will allow achieving at least 4% additional GDP growth per year. – [Electronic resource]. – Access mode: https://thedigital.gov.ua/news/mihajlo-fedorov-cifrovizaciya-ekonomiki-dozvolit-dosyagti-minimum-4-dodatkovogo-zrostannya-vvp-na-rik

3. Lavrinenko L. (2021) The impact of digital transformation and modern technologies on the labor market and personnel training // Fundamentals of modern scientific research of the collection of scientific papers "ΛΌΓOΣ" to the materials of the I international scientific-practical conference, Zurich, September 10, 2021. Zurich-Vinnytsia: BOLESWA Publishers & European Science Platform,– P. 13-14. – [Electronic resource]. – available at: https://doi.org/10.36074/logos-10.09.2021.01(Accessed 27 Dec 2024)

4. Lavrynenko L. (2021)  Digitalization and its impact on the labor market and labor relations // Education and science of today: intersectoral issues and development of sciences: Collection of scientific papers «ΛΌΓOΣ» with Proceedings of the I International Scientific and Practical Conference (Vol. 1), Cambridge, March 19, 2021. Cambridge-Vinnytsia: P.C. Publishing House & European Scientific Platform, 2021. – P.23-25. – [Electronic resource]. – available at:  https://ojs.ukrlogos.in.ua/index.php/logos/issue/view/19.03.2021/475 (Accessed 27 Dec 2024)

 

 

Надійшла до редакції: 28.02.2025 р.

 

 

[1] © Larisa Lavrynenko, Pavlo Tsymbalii

© Вісник Університету «Україна», № 14 (41), 2025

Науковий журнал «Вісник Університету «Україна»
Всі матеріали на сайті захищені згідно законодавства України