Many young people in Russia find it difficult to move into employment, and given the importance of a more efficient labor force for Russia's economic future, more needs to be done by the Russian government to improve the situation. Under current conditions, the state's activity in regard to solving issues of protecting the interests of young people is taking on more and more significance. The year 2009 was proclaimed to be the Year of Youth by edict of the president of the Russian Federation. The country has a strategy for the state's youth policy for the period 2006 to 2016; there is a special section in the Conception of the Long-Range Social and Economic Development of the Country; and there is a special department responsible for dealing with young people's issues. Most of the measures being carried out have been designed to draw attention to the problems of young people. Despite increased attention to the problems of young people on the part of the state, a number of problems remain unsolved. The most urgent problem is providing jobs for the graduates of institutions of higher learning. In this article, the author talks about the youth labor market in the context of social policy and looks at issues relating to the condition of today's young people in the sphere of labor and employment, focusing on programs whose purpose is to reduce tension in the labor market. The author stresses that in the labor market, young people represent a vulnerable category, and it is within the competence of state policy to provide assistance to them.