Abstract: The article is devoted to comparative analysis of some social-psychological methods used to assess labor activity motivation with the view of defining their diagnostic potential. Four tests, diagnostic procedure and five questionnaires are considered in the comparative analysis. Reference data on each method (their full and short naming, developers, the date of issue, diagnostic method) is collected by the authors, analysis of the structure, situations and peculiarities of application of diagnostic tools is carried out, their assets and flaws are revealed. For purposes of describing and revealing diagnostic potential of social-psychological methods of assessing labor motivation, a set of characteristics is described by the authors.  Based on the latter, the comparison of diagnostic tools was consistently carried out. The authors describe the subject of research, theoretical and conceptual model, structure of the method, automation, execution and data processing time, and the scope ( tasks that can be solved). At the stage of data interpretation and formulating recommendations the classification method was introduced. The scientific novelty and practical importance of the research is caused by the fact that the authors define three groups of methods assessing motivation of labor activity. Methods of the first group allow to define types of motivation, methods of the second group disclose the structure (content) of labor motivation, methods of the third group help to discover the motivational area (the process of solving the work motivation task). Recommendations on selecting particular methods for assessing labor motivation are offered for scientific and practical objectives.