Relevance. In modern conditions, when significant social and social changes are taking place, the problem of employment of graduates of institutions of secondary vocational and higher education is becoming important and needs fundamental changes in the field of employment. Due to the imbalance in the process of training specialists at all levels of education with the real needs of the labor market, there is periodically an oversaturation or shortage of certain professions. Consequently, there is a disproportion between supply and demand in the field of educational services, on the one hand, and the employment market, on the other. The purpose is to identify the causes and consequences of the imbalance of the educational sphere and the labor market and employment.Objectives: to characterize theoretical approaches to the analysis of the socio-economic nature of the labor market; to determine the value attitudes of young people in the professional and labor sphere; to identify the problems of employment of young professionals in the labor market of the Kursk region.Methodology. The study is based on concepts and theories that reveal the socio-cultural and socio-economic nature of the Russian labor market and employment. Methods of synthesis, comparison and analogy were applied, which made it possible, on the basis of specific empirical material, to determine the main problems of employment of graduates of institutions of secondary vocational and higher education in the Kursk region.Results. Educational institutions have a low orientation towards the training of qualified specialists. Communication employer (economic entity) - graduate (university) is in a state of imbalance and ultimately does not solve the problem of youth entering the labor market.Conclusions. The main difficulties in finding a decent job are the rather high requirements of the employer to the applicant and the lack of work experience in the chosen profession. The most significant factors in employment are wages, proximity of work to home and flexible employment schedule. It is not always good (excellent) academic performance at a university (SSU) that becomes the determining factor on the part of the employer for choosing a potential candidate for a particular vacancy.
