Formation of Digital Skills of Personnel in the Cooperative Sector of the Economy in the Face of New Challenges

Industry 4.0 is the central topic of numerous publications by foreign and Russian scientists, most of which are conceptual in nature. The current labor market requires the formation of new competencies and skills demanded in the digital economy. Digital reality dictates the need to develop new competencies—digital skills. Knowledge of computer technology, the use of software, and programming have become essential. For most organizations worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digitalization and adoption of digital ways of working. The development of new forms of employment (remote and combined) using digital technology will contribute to positive changes in the labor market. Based on these trends in the digital transformation of current society, the research aims to examine the digital skills of employees in the cooperative sector of the economy and their demand in the labor market in the context of Industry 4.0. The authors use descriptive statistical methods to process official data from the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation and the Higher School of Economics. The research indicates that the transformation of the labor market and forms of employment requires the development of new competencies demanded in Industry 4.0. In the digital economy, employment opportunities increasingly depend on a person's digital skills and competencies. This paper is one of the first comprehensive studies of the changing labor conditions, working environment, and the emergence of new competencies in Industry 4.0. This research contributes to the problem of studying digital skills as a component of human capital and can be the basis for further research in this subject area. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Modern Problems of Bank Lending to Small and Medium-sized Businesses

Sustainable socio-economic development of the country is impossible without viable and efficient entrepreneurship. Its active work is becoming an important factor in economic growth, the level of scientific and technological progress, innovation, increasing employment, and the development of society as a whole. Support for small and medium-sized businesses in modern conditions is associated with the recovery of certain areas and industries that have been particularly affected during the coronavirus pandemic. This support is manifested not only in state regulation of financing and development of entrepreneurship through the implementation of national projects and programs, but also in attracting other sources of investment in activities and the creation of new jobs. Credit sources of business financing are the most accessible and have several advantages, although the risks of providing and repaying credit funds are still high. The purpose of the study is to analyze the features of the lending market for small and medium-sized businesses in the Russian Federation. The study of the features of the activities of small and medium-sized enterprises and modern problems of lending to this segment is based on the use of scientific works of domestic scientists and specialists. To analyze bank lending in this segment, methods of generalization, comparison, analysis, and synthesis were used. As a result of the study, the key problems of bank lending to the segment of small and medium-sized businesses are identified, and directions for increasing its volumes are substantiated. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.