This article contains an analysis and systematization of scientific approaches to measuring the category of "labor potential", on the basis of which a generalizing definition is given with an emphasis on the use of demographic and social resources as invariant for any socio-economic system. The structures of labor potential and the budget of social time based on the method of categorical pairs are presented. The formalization of labor potential is carried out using the allocated structural elements and the budget of social time. For the first time, an original methodology for calculating labor potential is given on the example of Russia with an assessment in 2018 of the efficiency of using labor potential and social time.
Keywords: labor economics, labor potential, social time, social time budget, social time management methodology, quality of life.