THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE LABOR MARKET IN THE CONTEXT OF THE DIGITAL ECONOMY: THE ROLE OF DIGITAL SKILLS

The digital economy is changing the structure of the labor market, the content of occupations, the logic of employment relations, and the requirements imposed on human capital. This article examines the transformation of the labor market under the influence of digitalization and analyzes the role of digital skills as a key condition for employability, productivity, and professional competitiveness. The study explains the essence of digital labor market transformation, its structural elements, formation factors, practical applications, existing problems, and development directions. The research is based on qualitative analysis of scientific literature, international reports, policy documents, and empirical indicators related to Uzbekistan’s digital economy. The findings show that digital skills are no longer limited to the information technology sector. They have become necessary for economists, teachers, accountants, managers, entrepreneurs, public servants, and service-sector workers. In Uzbekistan, the information and communication sector employed 87,800 people in 2023, compared with 62,200 in 2020, while more than 10,000 IT-related vacancies were posted on the national job platform HH.uz in 2023. These indicators show that digital skills are becoming a real labor market requirement rather than an abstract educational goal. At the same time, the digital economy creates new risks, including skills mismatch, regional inequality, insufficient digital literacy, weak forecasting of labor demand, and exclusion of workers who cannot adapt to new technologies. The article argues that the development of digital skills should be treated as a strategic component of economic modernization, not as a narrow technical issue. Effective labor market adaptation requires stronger cooperation between universities, employers, government institutions, and private training providers.