The problem of educational potential and work potential is multifaceted. First, it is necessary to increase their rational use for sustainable development of the country. Secondly, the value components of educational potential and work potential of young people are unstable and contradictory. This fact leads to socio-cultural features and has an impact on the level of development of the social potential of modern youth. This work addresses the status roles of the unemployed, types of their employment behaviour, attitudes to education, training, retraining, self-development of unemployed youth as a specific social group. The features of value components of educational potential and work potential of the Russian unemployed youth in modern conditions are analyzed based on authors' research. The article analyzes the possibility of using various systems and technologies of training, including traditional, electronic, distance; it also reveals modern methods and techniques of training and offers a model of distance learning for young unemployed.