Many of the important laws regulating the labour market in Sierra Leone date back to 1960, a year before independence from the United Kingdom. These include the Employers and Employed Ordinance and the Trade Unions Ordinance. The labour laws are currently being revised in Sierra Leone. It was estimated that the process will be concluded at the end of 2014. A new draft of the Employment Law already exists. 

The Sierra Leone Labour Congress (SLLC), which was founded in 1976, is the umbrella organisation of trade unions in Sierra Leone and has 27 affiliated unions/organisations. The SLLC’s membership is increasing significantly, which is especially an influx of paid members from the informal economy.

Agriculture is the largest sector employing about 67% of the workforce and contributing 53% to GDP. Trade, hotels and restaurants has the most women to men employed, but with a low contribution to GDP relative to the number of workers in the sector. Diamond and mineral mining are prominent industries in Sierra Leone. The Ebola epidemic has adversely impacted the tourism industry. This epidemic has accounted for about 98% of checkouts in all hotels nationwide due to the cancellation of flights from and to Sierra Leone. Most road building has been suspended affecting mostly youths on basic wages.

The minimum wage is 500,000 SLL per month for 8 working hours / 5 working days per week.