Labor education has been formally incorporated into the talent training program of universities, high schools and primary schools in China. Based on the survey data of 182 normal university students, a mixed research method was used to investigate the current situation of labor quality. The results found that: (1) the overall labor quality of normal university students is moderately high, among which the labor concept level is most consistent with the requirements of labor quality in the new era; (2) the labor habits of normal university students play a key role in the overall labor quality and are most closely related to labor ability; (3) the labor concepts of normal university students differed significantly in the dimensions of grade, place of student origin and family economic level, with senior year being weaker than other grades, urban than rural areas, and poor than non-poor students; the labor ability of normal university students differed significantly in the dimension of family economic level, with poor students being weaker than non-poor students. Based on the findings of the study, implementation strategies of labor education for targeted normal university students are proposed.