Hartford Business Journal

20 Hartford Business Journal • July 27, 2015 www.HartfordBusiness.com OPINION & COMMENTARY EDITORIAL Job growth is key to replacing aging workforce T his week Hartford Business Journal wraps up the latest installment of its "Con- necticut's Silver Tsunami" series with a look at new business opportunities being created by the state's aging population. HBJ has now dedicated six issues and written more than a dozen stories on the topic of Connecticut's graying population, done to shed light on an issue that we believe poses fundamental challenges and opportunities for the state in the years ahead. Don't take our word for it: The genesis of this series came from business owners and executives who raised red flags at several of our reader roundtables about the impact this genera- tional shift will have on Connecticut's economy. We've highlighted several issues related to our aging population, but one that is most acute to our long-term economic well-being is workforce development and figuring out who will replace Baby Boomers as they head into retirement. HBJ News Editor Gregory Seay recently reported that Connecticut doesn't have a master plan to replace its aging workforce, but there are many different public- and private-sector initiatives underway to groom the next generation of business, civic and nonprofit leaders. New apprenticeship and training programs in manufacturing and the expansion of internships in the Capital City are all steps in the right direction. But the only way Connecticut is going to have a healthy future workforce is through job growth. Plain and simple, people, particularly working-age individuals in their 20s and 30s, flock to cities and states that offer ample opportunities to start and nurture a career. Unfortunately, Connecticut, for far too long, hasn't been a haven for new job creation. That, in turn, has contributed to the state's brain drain as younger workers con- stantly face the push and pull of job meccas in New York City and Boston. The numbers speak for themselves: The size of Connecticut's workforce is shrink- ing. A report by New York City business researcher The Conference Board predicts the state's working population will shrink 3.3 percent in the next 15 years, factoring in retirements, births, emigration and immigration. In the next 10 years, 35 percent of Connecticut's population will be aged 55 years or older, according to the Connecticut Economic Resource Center. State government doesn't need to develop a blueprint to help every industry in Connect- icut figure out how to groom a future workforce. Focusing its limited financial resources on certain job-training programs for crucial industries like manufacturing is smart policy. What state policymakers do need to make a priority is creating a fertile business climate that is attractive to businesses in myriad industries. Unfortunately, lawmakers missed out on that opportunity during the recent legislative session by raising taxes by $1.3 billion. Continuing to increase the cost of doing business in the state will further alienate businesses, but establishing a competitive business environment doesn't mean we need major, across-the-board tax cuts. Let's face it, that isn't happening anytime soon in the Land of Steady Habits, although we must better control spending. Most importantly, we need consistent policy that gives businesses incentives to operate here. That, too, has been lacking. For example, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy won much praise for his billion-dollar-plus investment in the bioscience industry, but during the recent legislative session he signed a budget that put new restrictions on research and development tax credits, which are crucial to companies engaged in scientific research. Connecticut is one of a few states that still hasn't recovered all the jobs lost (119,000) during the Great Recession. Prior to 2008, Connecticut didn't experience net new job growth in decades. If we continue along these lines as our employees get older and retire, workforce constraints will encourage companies to look elsewhere for talent. If we don't confront the issue now, it will haunt us for decades to come. n OTHER VOICES Data breaches threaten interconnected society By David Rosen B y now massive data breaches have become all too familiar to the millions of Americans who have been affected by them and whose private information has been stolen and consequences unknown. What's going on? The answer is, no one knows except the hack- ers, and they aren't talking. First, some facts: Three separate health insurance companies have reported mas- sive breaches of their recordkeeping sys- tems, involving mil- lions of customers (1.1 million at CareFirst, up to 11 million at Primera and 79 million at Anthem). Even the Internal Revenue Service reports that more than 100,000 of its files were hacked. And that's just the hacks reported. At a recent conference of cyber-security profession- als, 20 percent said they had worked at compa- nies that hid security breaches. Has your per- sonal information — social security number, health information, etc. — been hacked so that criminals now have it? Not unlikely, and if it hasn't been, it may well be before too long. The Connecticut legislature seems to have awakened to the problem with the passage of a new law requiring those conducting business in the state that own or license the per - sonal information of residents to offer free identity theft protec- tion services for at least one year fol- lowing a data breach. The law also requires companies to set up protocols to ensure their customers' most private data is kept secure. Companies must also encrypt all data in transit, whether it's sent over the Internet or kept on a laptop or flash drive. With all the news accounts of hacking, these companies certainly should have known to encrypt their data. Nevertheless, the legislature's move is a good one. The bill was just signed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. So who is doing the hacking? Here's where it gets even creepier. The leading suspects are foreign governments. The New York Times reports that the leading suspect is believed to be China, and there are lots of other govern- ments that may want to get on the bandwagon. But why? What's in it for China — or Russia, North Korea or, who knows, France or Ger- many — to commit this invasion? Apparently the answer is, we don't know for sure. On a national level, it may be all to the good that while hackers, from whatever location, are attacking data systems they are at least being detected at some point. Every detec- tion is an opportunity to improve security and help the defense keep up with the offense. For individuals, this particular kind of inva- sion of privacy is unprecedented. Is it more or less scary than having our data collected by the government on a gigantic scale? The answer may be different for different people. But at least with this type of hacking there is some- one — our government — trying to detect and thwart it. And at least there is some possibility for individuals to do something about it. Each of these massive data breaches is responded to with class-action lawsuits on behalf of the individuals and families whose personal data has been compromised. The purpose of the private lawsuits is to spur large companies to keep up with the state of the art in thwarting security breaches. The spur, of course, is the requirement that the companies compen- sate the victims for intrusions that could have been prevented and that cause anxi- ety or worse for the customers of these giant firms. Most commonly, we hear about peo- ple who discover that a bogus tax return has been filed in their name. Who profits from that kind of nastiness? In the long run, prob- ably no one, but it is not only massively inconvenient, it is scary, like being followed. So the good news is that most likely this kind of mas- sive breach is not the beachhead for a huge epidemic of fraud and identity theft that will lead to the emptying of tens of millions of bank accounts. The bad news is that we don't know how, or whether, it can be stopped or, to be realistic, just what the implications are for our interconnected society. n David N. Rosen is the lead attorney of New Haven-based David Rosen & Associates P.C., which has filed a class action lawsuit against one large health insurance company as a result of a data breach. HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM POLL Who will win the Hartford mayoral election? ● Pedro Segarra ● Luke Bronin ● Other candidate To vote, go online to HartfordBusiness.com. Last week's poll results: Do you trust the government to help support your needs in retirement? 11.6% Yes 88.4% No David Rosen ▶ ▶ So who is doing the hacking? Here's where it gets even creepier. The leading suspects are foreign governments … But why? What's in it for China — or Russia, North Korea or, who knows, France or Germany — to commit this invasion? Apparently the answer is, we don't know for sure. Send Us Your Letters The Hartford Business Journal welcomes letters to the editor and guest commentaries for our opinion pages. Electronic submissions are preferred and welcome at: editor@HartfordBusiness. com. Or you may fax submissions to Editor, Hartford Business Journal, at (860) 570-2493.

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