The relevance of the scientific article topic is due to the growing importance of human capital as a major factor in economic growth, so higher education is becoming an important means of forming a new generation of qualified personnel and the development of intellectual capital. As a basis for the formation of human capital, education is related to the functioning of the labor market. The imbalance in the development of higher education and the labor market causes both a surplus of specialists in certain areas of training and a shortage of highly qualified personnel in some specialties. Scientists consider human capital from the standpoint of economic asset, which is formed by investing in education and training of the worker, and contributes to the specific effect associated with the involvement in material production of economically active labor.

The purpose of the article is to assess the state of the national labor market and study the share of economically active population by level of education, identify existing problems and the ways of their solving.

The results of the study. The training of skilled labor in Ukraine is suboptimal and does not meet the needs of the domestic labor market, which requires their synchronization. Despite the decline in the main quantitative indicators of higher education coverage, over the last ten years about 70% of students have become students of higher educational institutions and Ukraine ranks fifth position in Europe and twelfth position in the world in terms of higher education coverage. It is established that the shortage of personnel trained to work in the new socio-economic conditions is an objective reason for changing the structure of specialties for which training is carried out, and the chronic lack of funding for higher education forces to expand enrollment in social sciences and humanities disciplines which attract students. The main reasons for informal employment are the imperfection of organizational, managerial and regulatory mechanisms of the labor market, employment, imbalance in the labor market and educational services, which do result in changes in the quantitative and qualitative structure of the labor market and personnel skills mismatch. In this context, the optimization of public procurement and funding of training in higher education institutions remains relevant. It is investigated that in addition to the formal signal of professional competencies in the form of a diploma, the employer considers the presence of job applicants “soft skills”, which are considered non-specialized, between professional skills that allow professionals to adapt to new conditions, perform non-standard tasks to change the field of employment.

Conclusions. Ukraine’s national economy could be more productive if the state focused on ensuring the productive potential of young people. “The positive effects of public investment in youth employment can be enhanced by ensuring that young workers have the necessary skills. In this sense, linking infrastructure investment to labor market policies will help increase the number and quality of jobs for young people” [10].

The research shows that in Ukraine the quality of training in the system of higher educational institutions does not fully meet the needs of the national labor market, which causes a high level of unemployment of their graduates. As a result, Ukraine is losing the factors of economic growth – human and intellectual capital, which migrates abroad not realizing itself in the country. Thus, it requires new approaches to the development of the higher education system and in modern conditions higher educational institutions should intensify activities aimed at strengthening cooperation between business and employers in maximizing the adaptation of educational programs to the needs of the national economy which are extremely popular with domestic experts.

Key words: labor market, human capital, labor resources, unemployment.

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