The Transformation of Living Labor Under the Influence of Digitalization of the Economy

The purpose of the article is to identify and analyze the signs and features of the transformation of living labor under the influence of digitalization. The article examines the essence of the concept of «transformation of living labor» and the nature of the impact of digitalization of the economy thereupon; the directions of changes in living labor in the conditions of formation of the information and network economy were identified; changes in forms of employment in the context of the formation of the gig economy sector were substantiated; peculiarities of the functioning of digital platforms as a new type of basic economic institution and the scale of the influence of digital technologies on living labor through the prism of changes in the organic capital structure were revealed; the contours of the change in the formation of the cost of labor force as a result of a change in the owners of the means of production were indicated; the essence of digital capital was researched; the multidirectional nature of the processes that form the demand and supply of labor force in Ukraine was studied and substantiated. Based on the theories of transformation of systems and the labor economics, the concept of «transformation of living labor» is defined as changes in social and labor relations that arise in the processes of creating new value and reproduction of labor force. It is proposed to distinguish two levels of research on the transformation of living labor under the influence of digital technologies, namely: common to the economic environment and specific to the labor market, which made it possible to further determine the directions of its changes according to the characteristics of each of them, using the method of abstraction. The theoretical substantiation of changes according to the signs of two levels of transformation of living labor was further developed. For the first level, which defines the determinants of general shifts for the economic environment, it is proposed and substantiated to single out such features as: the transition from an industrial-market to an information-network economy; formation of the gig economy; formation of digital platforms; for the second level, which is specific to the labor market, the signs of transformation processes are as follows: creating conditions for the growth of the organic capital structure; changes in the formation of components of the cost of labor force as a result of a change in the owners of the means of production; formation of digital capital; multidirectional processes that form supply and demand in the labor market. The blocks by which it is advisable to examine the effectiveness of the use of digital platforms, according to the authors, can be: production costs; quality of products, works, services; use of working time; the level and quality of e-commerce; the level of economic relations; quality of access to information.