The social space of the contemporary Russian labor market is characterized by the growing dynamics of changes, its structure becoming more differentiated and amorphous. Nonstandard, unsustainable employment including selfemployment practices gains larger scale. The above mentioned changes have controversial social consequences, especially at the regional level, where the problems of human capital preservation and reproduction are of importance. The results of the social survey of dissemination factors, the structure, and scale of youth selfemployment on the regional labor market are presented. Selfemployment is considered to be an aggregate of practices integrating the informal secondary employment not related to hiring, informal selfemployment (small business without registration) and formal selfemployment (officially registered individual entrepreneurship). The wide sociological survey of the Republic of Mordovia youth (N = 474, age: 18–35) revealed that selfemployment practices are widespread (60%). The relative amount (43%) is occupied by informal secondary selfemployment without hiring; informal selfemployment (5%) is followed by officially registered small businesses (8%). The social characteristics of the shadow selfemployment holders revealed the peculiarities of their factorrelated causes. In particular, it is noted that informal secondary employment of hired workers is of a forced character due to largescale labor precarization. On the contrary, informal selfemployment, is of a rather voluntary nature conditioned by personal characteristics of the holders (striving for freedom and independence) and actualized at labor market under the conditions of uncertainty. The youth selfemployment functions at the regional level are revealed: reducing potential tension at labor market; restraining a sharp fall of living conditions and youth migration outflow, contributing to the economic innovative sector development. The article focuses on the demands to strengthen selfemployment role in republic economic processes and to stimulate legal, intellectual and innovative professional components.