26 5. Action Directions to Reach the Goal and Solve the Existing Problems Taking into account the analysis of the current situation in information society area as well as Information Society Development Guidelines 2006-2013 and the evaluation of the development plans’ end impact built on basis of these guidelines, as well as the priorities in information society area24 proposed in the EU development planning documents, the working group25 has proposed 7 action directions for policy planning period 2014-2020: * ICT education and e-skills; * widely available access to the internet; * advanced and effective public administration; * e-services and digital content for public; * cross-border cooperation for Digital Single Market; * ICT research and innovation; * trust and security. 5.1 Action Direction “ICT Education and E-Skills” In Latvia just as elsewhere across the Europe, e-skills have become an essential part of life and inability to access or use ICT is a significant obstacle for social integration and personal development. Insufficient level of e-skills among entrepreneurs and inhabitants works as an obstacle for economic growth, competitiveness and employment in Latvia and in the EU in general. According to an EU study26, it is expected that in 2015 90% of all jobs in any sector will require technical skills, i.a. e-skills. At the same time, only 27% of EU inhabitants have high level ICT skills and 25% average level skills (in Latvia 31% and 30%27 correspondingly). Only 53% from inhabitants working in Europe consider their ICT skills as sufficient for labour market needs28. Activities in e-skills area have to be directed to the areas that would stimulate both small and medium enterprises and inhabitant motivation for e-skills acquisition in order to ensure State economic growth, inhabitant competitiveness and advantages in labour market; thus, improving overall quality of life. Further actions are planned in the following fields: * public awareness and readiness to use e-Opportunities; * development of inhabitant and entrepreneur e-skills; * increase of public administration ICT competences; * preparation of ICT practitioners and professionals according to requirements of labour market; * increasing the proportion of algorithmic thinking and information literacy in educational programmes. 24 The Digital Agenda for Europe covers the following priorities: Improvement of digital skills, abilities and inclusiveness, High-speed and extremely high-speed access to the Internet, Strong digital single market, Interoperability and standards, EU public benefits from ICT, Research and innovations, Trust and security 25 Members from ministries, State Chancellery, ICT domain associations, UNESCO Latvian National Commission, Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Employers’ Confederation of Latvia and Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments have been participating in the working group 26 IDC White Paper Post Crisis: e-skills are needed to drive Europe’s innovation society, 2009. http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/ict/files/idc_wp_november_2009_en.pdf 27 Eurostat database 28 Digital Agenda Scoreboard 2012 https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/sites/digital-agenda/files/KKAH12001ENNPDFWEB_1.pdf information_society_development_guidelines_2014_2020.docx; Information Society Development Guidelines 2014-2020