Abstract

Introduction. In the structure of the population of Russia, the proportion of older people is increasing, but the duration of the economically active working life of this age category is less than in some European countries. Many elderly Russians having an active life position want and can work. Most of them have a high level of professional education and qualifications, experience, and yet many are not in demand on the labor market, because they do not have enough digital skills. The purpose of this article is to study the situation with employing elderly citizens, identify factors that determine successful mastering information and digital technologies on the bases of the results of retraining and advanced training. Methods. The authors of the article analyze the regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation and the Russian Federation’s constituent entities (national programs and projects), study the content of the government bodies’ websites, including public employment departments, educational organizations, statistical data are used to assess the state of senior citizens’ employment and education, the authors carry out an empirical study with a survey. Scientific novelty of the study. The authors identify factors that affect the elderly citizens’ employment in industries where digital technologies are actively introduced; point out the factors that positively impact successful elderly citizens’ education. It has been proved that in order to obtain a positive learning outcome, not only the legal and organizational conditions created by the state are required, but also the presence of an educational strategy among the elderly people themselves, an element of which is the development of information and digital technologies. The results of the study make it possible to realize the main problems that hinder employment and training, as well as to predict some trends regarding the position of older people in the new realities of the digital economy.