Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • November 13, 2017 • Hartford Business Journal 5 Demand for CT cybersecurity workers strong More than 2,400 cybersecurity jobs have been posted in the past year in Connecticut, according to Cyberseek, a free online workforce resource developed by CompTIA and Burning Glass Technologies. According to data compiled for the past 12 months through Sept. 2017, Connecticut employers posted 2,452 cybersecurity job openings. That's in addition to the estimated 6,671 cybersecurity workers employed in the state at the end of 2016, according to Matthew Sigelman, Burning Glass CEO. "The demand for skilled and certified cybersecurity professionals is surging from coast to coast and border to border," said Sigelman. "In every state, including Connecticut, the demand for cybersecurity talent outstrips the supply of available workers." Worker's comp rates to drop 14% Worker's compensation insurance rates will be 14 percent lower starting Jan. 1, the Connecticut Insurance Department announced. It will be the fourth consecutive year of falling premiums, following drops of 11 percent, 3.9 percent and 6.3 percent in 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. "The continued decrease is a result of the reduction in the number of workplace injuries and claims filed," Insurance Commissioner Katharine Wade said. "Additionally, the average medical cost per claim has moderated in recent years." Canadian company acquires Glastonbury tech support firm Glastonbury electrical industry tech support provider IndustrySmarts has been acquired by Canada's JDM Technology Group, which provides software to the architecture, engineering and construction industries. The deal closed Oct. 31 after approval by IndustrySmarts' founders and owners Bill Floyd and Keith Peck. Terms were not disclosed. Through its marketing platform and pricing service, dubbed NetPak, IndustrySmarts connects electrical manufacturers, distributors and contractors in North America, who use those services to promote or price their products. Survey: CT employers taking steps to cut healthcare costs Connecticut employers are increasingly offering higher deductible health plans to workers in an effort to cut healthcare costs, according to a survey by Mercer, a New York- based health and wealth consultant. Mercer's national survey, which included 44 Connecticut employers and 2,544 employers across the country, found that 89 percent of Connecticut companies surveyed are offering high-deductible consumer directed health plans to their employees, and more than half of those employees are enrolling in them. This and other steps are part of a national trend, Mercer said, in which employers are working to reduce healthcare costs. Employers in Connecticut and across the U.S. are also offering more "transparency" tools and services to help consumers compare healthcare prices and plan quality, the survey found. In Connecticut, 86 percent of employers do so, while nationally the figure is 82 percent. More Connecticut employers (91 percent) also offer telemedicine as a low-cost alternative to an office visit, compared with 71 percent of employers nationally. Women-owned businesses growing in CT The number of women-owned businesses climbed in Connecticut over the past two decades, but not as much as it did in other states, according to an analysis based on federal data. Connecticut is ranked 43rd in the nation for overall growth in women-owned firms over the past 20 years, according to the seventh annual State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, commissioned by American Express OPEN. Connecticut had 113,100 women-owned firms in 2017, compared to 72,393 in 1997, a 56 percent increase, the report said. Women-owned businesses in the state employ 95,300 and contributed roughly $16.4 billion in GDP in 2017, the report found. Nationally, the number of women-owned firms grew 114 percent from 1997 to 2017. Visit Customer Service in Center Court or call 860-561-3024 LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT HOLIDAY GIFT? GIVE A WESTFARMS GIFT CARD! The ten states in which women-owned businesses have the highest and lowest economic clout growth rate, 1997–2017 Highest Economic Clout Growth Rate Nevada, District of Colum- bia, South Dakota, North Da- kota, Georgia, Virginia, Utah, Wyoming, Texas, Arizona Lowest Economic Clout Growth Rate Iowa, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Vermont, Rhode Island, Arkansas, Illinois, Ohio, West Virginia, Nebraska

• Cover