In the 21st century, the very idea of work is being redefined. From Lagos to London, Kingston to Kuala Lumpur, millions are abandoning the old certainty of a single job and embracing multiple streams of income.

The statistics are staggering: Nearly 40 per cent of American adults now sustain a side hustle, while in parts of Africa and the Caribbean, the figure is closer to 70 per cent. The “side hustle” is no longer fashionable. It is fundamental.

A 2023 Bankrate survey found that 39 per cent of American adults maintain a side hustle, with Millennials and Gen Zers leading the charge. Deloitte now projects that, by 2027, freelancers and gig workers could constitute the majority of the US workforce. Meanwhile, the creator economy, in which individuals monetise their content, influence, and creativity, is expected to nearly double in value from US$250 billion today to US$480 billion by 2027 (Goldman Sachs).

This transformation is more than economic, it is cultural. Work is no longer a place we go, nor a single identity we hold. It has become a mosaic of multiple ventures stitched together through technology, necessity, and ambition. Technology has democratised opportunity and erased borders. With platforms like Fiverr, TikTok Shop, and Uber, a coder in Lagos, a fitness coach in Manila, or a DJ in São Paulo can all earn global clients with nothing more than a smartphone. The world of work has become digital, flexible, and relentlessly hustle-driven.

But while technology has broadened horizons, it has also collided with an unyielding reality: The world is becoming more expensive.

Global inflation, driven by pandemic supply chain shocks, the war in Ukraine, soaring energy prices, and now tariff fluctuations, has driven the cost of living to historic highs. We remember 2022, when inflation across Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries reached its highest level in four decades, averaging nearly 10 per cent.

Even as headline inflation has eased, food and housing costs remain stubbornly high and, across the globe, workers are discovering a sobering truth: One pay cheque no longer stretches as far as it once did. This is one of the hidden engines powering the global hustle economy.

However, this transformation is not confined to wealthy economies. In the Caribbean, hustling is both cultural and economic. In Barbados, government data reveals that the informal sector contributes nearly 30 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). Across the region, hustling is how families absorb shocks, seize opportunities, and fill the gaps left by formal labour markets.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this shift. The lockdowns and cessation of travel caused the collapse of tourism and sector linkages leaving households from Bridgetown to Port of Spain turning to hustles — food delivery, home-based kitchens, tutoring, farm to table sales, and e-commerce.

Undoubtedly, the Caribbean is resilient. But resilience often conceals fragility.

Jamaica sits at the sharpest edge of this global trend.

Our unemployment rate has fallen to below 5 per cent, the lowest in decades (Statistical Institute of Jamaica [STATIN]). Yet the headline masks the reality beneath. Our informal economy is estimated at 31 per cent of total activity (World Economics), while earlier Inter-American Development Bank studies placed it between 35 per cent and 44 per cent. This means that, even as Jamaicans find work, many do so outside the safety nets of contracts, pensions, and social protections.

So, are we simply natural hustlers? Yes, Jamaicans are among the most entrepreneurial people on Earth. Our creativity, ingenuity, and survival instinct make hustling second nature. But let us not romanticise necessity. Hustling is a response to structural gaps in our economy, and to global inflation that magnifies our high cost of living.

GLOBAL INFLATION SQUEEZE

Global inflation has sharpened Jamaica’s domestic burdens. Food, housing, electricity, and imported goods continue to rise in cost, while domestic prices climb alongside global energy and tariff fluctuations. Even with the national minimum wage increased to $16,000 per week, the arithmetic is not adding up. For too many families the hustle is not a lifestyle; rather, it is the only way to close the gap between what is earned and what their life demands.

How do we fix this?

I have repeated this: Jamaica cannot afford to remain a passive participant in the global economy. We must position ourselves as a bold competitor and take the risk to thrust ourself into the world market, instead of relying only trading with three million people.

Why? Because, the future of work is already here, reshaping industries and creating opportunities across digital platforms, renewable energy, logistics, and creative economies. Therefore, if we are to provide meaningful employment for our people, we cannot simply consume these innovations, we must produce, export, and lead within them.

To do this, Jamaica must expand beyond its traditional sectors, building globally competitive industries that leverage our natural strengths — our culture, our geography, our creativity, and our people. A robust economy rooted in export-driven growth and innovation would provide not just jobs, but careers of dignity, stability, and opportunity.

Being ahead of the curve requires vision and courage. It means investing in the infrastructure of tomorrow — digital transformation, renewable energy grids, agro-technology, and logistics hubs — that will anchor Jamaica in the global economy of the future. It means creating policies that encourage our young entrepreneurs to scale their hustles into formal businesses, compete internationally, and bring foreign exchange home. And it means ensuring that our education system produces not just jobseekers, but innovators equipped to thrive in a borderless economy.

This demand for vision is also clear in Jamaica’s ongoing general election campaign. Both the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and People’s National Party (PNP) are battling in the attention economy, where politics competes with clicks, likes, and digital noise. But Jamaicans are not easily fooled. They are smart, discerning, and unimpressed by recycled populism. Our people think bigger, bet on their future, and expect leadership that does the same. Therefore, our politics, like our economy, must rise above the noise, offering not distraction, but direction; not quick fixes, but a bold and lasting vision.

If we rise to this challenge, Jamaica will not only reduce its reliance on hustling as survival, it will become a nation where hustling evolves into entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship into globally competitive enterprise.

The hustle is undeniably Jamaican, woven into our music, our markets, and our spirit. But hustling alone cannot carry us forward. Without intentional growth our people will remain trapped in a 24/7 economy of exhaustion and survival hustling. Our challenge is to shape a new Jamaican economy; one in which the hustle is not a desperate necessity, but a powerful choice; not a survival tactic, but a launchpad to innovation and wealth creation.

That is the future of work our people deserve, and the future we must build together.

Lisa Hanna is Member of Parliament for St Ann South Eastern, People’s National Party spokesperson on foreign affairs and foreign trade, and a former Cabinet member.

Lisa Hanna