Development of a comprehensive National Employment and Labour Policy (NELP) is one of the priority outputs envisaged in the Malawi decent work country programme in order to create a conducive environment for accelerating the realization of productive and decent employment for men and women in Malawi. This employment diagnosis is the fist step in the development of the National Employment and Labour Policy. Furthemore, the employment diagnosis represents an important benchmark for Malawi as it enters the next cycle of national development planning articulated in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy II (2011 onwards). It provides a rare opportunity to achieve the twin objective of informing the mainstreaming of employment and labour issues in the national development strategy as well as ensuring coherence between the national development strategy and the Malawi decent work country programme.