Jamaican PM Breaks Ground for New Outsourcing Office Complex

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness has broken ground for the construction of a new office complex for outsourcing firms in the Montego Bay Free Zone.
The facility, with a planned 63,000 square feet of office space, will be ready for occupation by early next year.
Montego Bay is a popular hunting ground for call center operators, with the Free Zone being home to 11,000 of Jamaica’s 18,000 BPO employees. According to the government, about 35 outsourcing firms are operating in the Montego Bay Free Zone.
“The Free Zone supports manufacturing and warehousing as well…But BPO operations occupy more than 60% of the space, generate 98% of foreign exchange earnings, and account for more than 96% of employment in the Zone,” said the prime minister after giving the go ahead for the construction.
The new facility, according to the prime minister, will increase the office space for the outsourcing industry by 10% in Montego Bay, taking the total floor space allocated to the industry to 665,000 square feet.
Highlighting that the outsourcing industry posted 16% growth in the last fiscal year, Holness said his government will continue to do everything in its power to support the sector.
“You have the potential to double and triple your current employment. Economic growth must mean employment, so we are not going after jobless growth, we are going after inclusive growth, which means that the people of the country must benefit from the growth,” the prime minister said.
Jamaica is hoping to double the size of its outsourcing industry from the current 18,000 employees to 30,000 employees by 2020. Last year, the government vacated historical Central Sorting Office in capital Kingston to make space for foreign call center firms.