Role of digital economy in the development of lifelong education system

The author represents the economic and sociological analysis of modern features of digital economy and its role in the development of the system of lifelong education. Adistinctive feature is the combination of problem and applied approaches to the analysis of the designated topic. The study is carried out on the basis of the method of identifying the essential characteristics of the digital economy taking into account the innovative nature of modern socio-economic development. This stage of development is characterized by a number of stable global trends, which, in turn, significantly change the requirements for the qualification of employees, the content and methods of their training highlighting the issues of ensuring the continuity of the educational process. Assuming high dynamics of the economy and, consequently, rapid adaptation of labor force to the technological changes the author shows, that at the present stage of societydevelopment one of the main tasks is to achieve a sharp increase of labor productivity, through which the effectiveness of a new type of economic and social relations should be manifested. The labor process of workers in the digital economyshould become more diverse, meaningful and their production skills are much higher. The growth of the company’s needs for more and more qualified personnel with a corresponding decrease in demand for low-skilled workers is caused by an increase in the technical level of production. It is dictated by the entire course of modern social and economic development associated with the expansion of information technologies use. The author suggests, that under these conditions, the system of lifelong education should be focused not only on the amount of theoretical knowledge and certain skills, but mainlyon practice, the development ofmethods ofanalysis, the development of those qualities that allow the specialist to adapt to changing conditions quickly.The article represents the data of sociological research carried out on the basis of in-depth expert interviews.In his conclusions, the author also relied on his own experience in the development of this problem.