Career prospects for future economists: Assessing the level of digital literacy in the context of developing platform technologies

Introduction. The authors examine the problem of integrating platform technologies into the practice of making economic decisions in light of new labor market trends. The purpose of this work is to assess the dynamics of future economists’ level of digital literacy in the context of the development of platform technologies to substantiate the prospects for a professional career. Materials and Methods. The methodological basis of the study is the sustainable development strategy, the conceptual foundations of which determine the directions of collective efforts to solve global problems of our time in terms of universal values of sustainability, responsibility and ethics. As part of the study, an online survey of Economics students at Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Astrakhan State University named after V. N. Tatishchev, Saratov National Research State University named after N. G. Chernyshevsky, Omsk State Technical University was conducted to assess the dynamics of the level of digital literacy in the context of the development of platform technologies. Results. The competitive advantages of digital economic models based on platform technologies have been identified: the ability to diversify and personalize the goods and services provided; a high level of flexibility and autonomy of labor relations, allowing to reduce production and transaction costs; maximizing the efficiency of sharing services, goods and resources in order to reduce waste and develop social cooperation. The empirical data obtained during the online survey demonstrate a sufficient level of students' awareness in terms of understanding the features of the platform economy in light of new labor market trends. At the same time, there is positive dynamics in the level of digital literacy in the context of 1-4 years of study, confirmed by high weighting coefficients of significance, which indicates sufficient involvement of future economists in the practice of making economic decisions using platform technologies and is an additional resource when an individual enters the labor market. Conclusions. The obtained results allow the authors to draw a conclusion about the relationship between digital knowledge, skills and opportunities to use digital platforms in terms of the prospects for the professional career of future economists.