Objective To explore the levels and relationship of work readiness and emotional labor in new graduate nurses, and to provide reference for promoting successful transition from student to qualified nurse. Methods A survey was conducted on 911 nurses who graduated within 1 year and worked in 8 tertiary hospitals of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region.The instruments included a self-designed general data questionnaire, the Chinese version of the Work Readiness Scale for graduate nurses and the Emotional Labor Scale. Results The new nurses scored (269.54±48.70) points on work readiness, and （46.85±11.91） points on emotional labor. Emotional labor was negatively correlated with work readiness （r=-0.235,P＜0.05）.After controlling for demographic data, the surface acting and deep acting of the Emotional Labor Scale explained 35.5% of the variance in work readiness of new nurses （both P＜0.05）. Conclusion Work readiness and emotional labor are at medium levels in new graduate nurses. Surface acting predicts negatively, whereas deep acting predicts positively work readiness.Managers should pay attention to new nurses′ emotional labor assessment and focus on those adopt surface acting, thus to improve their work readiness.