Among other ontological problems of economics – such as space and time, picture of economic reality, objects of economic science – the language of economics takes an important place. The language of modern economic science describes the picture of economic reality that has developed in science at the moment. Perceptions of the individual (an economic agent) are part of the overall economic picture of the world and play a key role in any economic theory. On the basis of these perceptions, a working human model in the economics is formed. In our view, there is a certain discrepancy between the working human model in neoclassical economic theory and the image of economic individuum in the language of modern labor economics. The subject of this article is the language of the modern labor economics as a tool for describing economic individual and the effective force of changing economic reality. The hypothesis of this research is that the language of modern labor economics describes economic individual more realistically as part of economic reality in the broad sense of the word than neoclassical economic theory does. The purpose of our study is to compare these two perceptions of economic individual and to try to explain why such a gap exists.

Under modern economic conditions, the attribute of competitiveness of economic agents is of particular importance. In the innovative economy, competitiveness at both the macro and meso levels and within the organization is provided by not only reducing costs, but also by maximizing the use of internal capabilities. Labor resources, in their turn, are the most important factor in creation of competitive advantages. It's possible to increase the competitiveness of the organization if only to increase the competitiveness of its employees: to develop labor potential, to form necessary competencies which meet the requirements of production and managerial processes. However, to maintain the competitiveness, employees often resort to opportunistic behavior, by regarding it as one of the factors for achieving it. Within the generally accepted approach, opportunism is regarded as an exclusively negative phenomenon. But does the employee always consciously choose such a model of behavior instead of conscientious labor performance? In this regard, influence of opportunism on the competitiveness of an employee is a particularly relevant issue.

The article demonstrates the role of further professional education as an integral part of the lifelong learning system in overcoming the contradictions between the demand and supply in the labor market. On the example of the MBA program it is proved that the development of programs of this type can lead to the positive changes in the working career of an employee. In addition, state initiatives  confirm  the need  to  use the opportunities  of  further  professional  education  for  the economic and social development of society as a whole.

In this article managerial work is considered and its main objectives in the conditions of digital economy in Russia are defined, changes in area of responsibility of management and also a role of HR services in the system of Foresight-management are revealed, types of alternative development strategies of HR services are allocated, problems and methods of management training in the conditions of digital economy in Russia are considered, digital competences of managers at the different levels of development are analysed, the main trends of development of the human capital in the conditions of digital economy are characterized.

This study examines the impact of professional specialization on career outcomes within the organization. The internal labor market creates favorable conditions for generalists, professionals with diverse experience: reduced information asymmetry about worker’s abilities suppress the influence of observable attributes, while diverse experience fosters knowledge breadth, cognitive complexity, and heterogeneous contracts within an organization necessary for the successful performance at senior managerial levels. Moreover, proximity to the organizational core provides access to important information and visibility, which increases promotion chances. Combining classical career models in the internal labor market with insights from modern research in human and social capital, the author offers an original model of the interaction between vertical, horizontal and radial labor mobility and demonstrates the mechanisms behind various career trajectories.

In the modern world, labor conflicts are an integral part of social and labor relations. Official statistics record only that part of the conflicts that has grown into strikes, given the number of workers who took part in it and the loss of working time. Scientific institutes and research centers dealing with this issue, considering the issue more broadly, collect more detailed data. The presented work analyzes various sources of information on labor conflicts in Russia over the past few years. As results, the main trends for the last three years are identified and an assessment of possible causes is given, the main regulatory measures are proposed taking into account the role of the state and trade unions.