Labor Mobility in the Context of Globalization and the Digital Economy

The article analyzes the transformation of labor mobility under the impact of the digital economy. The study aims to substantiate that digitalization replaces the physical relocation of workers with their virtual integration into employers' processes, and to assess whether the current level of digitalization in Russia is sufficient for full-scale labor mobility by 2028. The empirical basis comprises data from the statistical compendium "Digital Economy Indicators: 2026" (HSE University / Rosstat). The findings reveal that remote and platform-based employment cover 1.7% and 3.8% of the workforce respectively, with the highest intensity of remote work recorded in the IT industry (23.4%). Three systemic barriers are identified: a skills deficit (only 10.6% of the population possess basic or higher digital skills, while 75.4% lack information security competencies), infrastructural constraints (corporate VPN usage stands at merely 35.8% of organizations), and scale limitations (the ICT sector contributes 4.0% to GVA, equivalent to 3.9% of GDP, versus 7–9% in leading countries). The theoretical contribution lies in conceptualizing two divergent trajectories of digital mobility: genuine virtual integration and algorithmically mediated local employment. The study concludes that the current level of digitalization is insufficient for systemic labor market virtualization by 2028, a qualitative shift is realistically achievable no earlier than 2030–2032.