The article substantiates the author’s interpretation of labor mobility potential and the factors of its activation in line with the subjective mobility concept. Its empirical verification is carried out on the basis of the analysis of the mass survey data and in-depth interviews conducted by the author among the young people employed in the economy of Kursk region, and their comparison with the results of all-Russian and regional studies. The research reveals a relatively high potential for labor mobility of working youth, expressed in the readiness to change jobs in the near future. About half of the young people employed in the economy can be attributed to the social base of potential labor mobility, within which there are two signifi cant groups: some of them have a clearly defi ned attitude to change jobs in the near future, the second one allows such changes in their employment status. It determines the key role of two groups of factors in activating the potential of youth labor mobility. The fi rst of them includes the intentions of young people to realize themselves and their professional potential in labor activity and career in a new job; the second one is represented by the main reasons for dissatisfaction with the working conditions at the current job – the level of wages and the amount of workload. The research establishes the prevalence in the youth environment of employment not according to the profi le of the received profession (specialty), and young people’s lack of assessment of the discrepancy between work and profession as a causal factor for changing jobs and as an obstacle to their career.