Wednesday, October 7, 2026
The north and west are filling up. Urban enumeration districts in Jamaica’s six northern and western parishes rose 92 per cent between 2011 and 2022, from 548 to 1,053, and the region is now home to 773,875 people, more than Kingston and St Andrew combined. The National Housing Trust pipeline alone includes 2,766 units in St James, 2,176 in Trelawny and 1,714 across three St Ann schemes, with more planned in Westmoreland, Hanover and St Mary, and private building on top.
The jobs have not followed at the same pace. Tourism directly employs around 175,000 Jamaicans and 20,000 more hotel rooms are planned, but when GovNet launched in 2018, about 80 per cent of government corporate offices sat in Kingston, St Andrew and St Catherine. A new highway can move people faster, but it cannot by itself build the professional offices, financial services and regional headquarters a growing coast needs. So once the keys are handed over, where do the new homeowners go to work?
On a north coast road that crumbles away at a cliff edge, a brisk man in a suit swings back his foot to kick a battered tin can marked “JOBS” a little further along, declaring “JUST BUILD A HIGHWAY!”. Behind him, rows of new scheme houses sit under a billboard reading “2,766 NEW HOMES”, while a signpost pointing back towards distant towers reads “80% OFFICES KINGSTON” and young residents watch anxiously from a zinc fence.
Read more: Homes Up. Jobs Where?
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