The transition to a market economy, the impact of external and internal factors on the country's economy, the restructuring, made reforms and, as a consequence, changes in socio-economic infrastructure, all had an impact on the labour market, which, being derived, reflects fully the successes or failures of the country's socio-economic development. The article presents the results of a study on the dependency between the changes in the economy, the employment of a potentially productive labour force and the level of the labour income of the population. Based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of economic growth, the main issues in the employment area, the sources of income formation, including those with different types of economic activity and the working regime, are identified. As a result, it was found that the difficult situation on the labour market is due to the discrepancy between the labour relations and the market mechanism of the economy, the low salary level, which led to the decrease of the salary share in the total income, to the loss of the motivational and stimulating functions of salaries, to an imperfect legislative and normative framework that does not correspond to the realities of the socio-economic development, under the conditions of the market mechanisms. In addition to the above-mentioned causes, one of the most important factors that obstructs the stable socio-economic development of the country and the development of a competitive labour market is the existing inertial economic development model, oriented towards consumption. The study was conducted based on statistical data and secondary indicators calculated by the author. Based on the obtained results, have been developed the approaches for changing the stable and sustainable socio-economic development model, improving the employment legislative base in line with the European standards, performing payroll policies and indexing labour income, increasing the employment rate of the working population, and the need to deepen studies in this area to justify the promotion of state policies.