At the moment, scientists' research has not found a solution to the inconsistencies between the socio-economic conditions that ensure the development of employment and the target priorities of sustainable economic development. The article analyzes the methodological principles of various areas of economic theory presented in the works of foreign and domestic researchers. The novelty of the research consists in the description of the methodological approach to employment of the population, built on the basis of methodological principles of the organization of forms of employment in the field of innovation. The author's contribution to the methodology of employment research consists in supplementing existing research schemes with the principles of innovation, social security and protection of the population; substantiating an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of new forms of employment for sustainable development; using the methodological synthesis of modern theories of state regulation in revealing the cause-effect relationships between the social policy and the growth rate of public welfare.