Sizing Up the Small Business Jobs Machine

A look at the week of October 17 in public advocacy for the IT channel: This week, the SEC updated a disclosure requirement to press companies to report data breaches and cyber attacks.  Agencies also are updating policies due to data breaches, requiring that contractors that handle personally identifiable information complete privacy training.  As politicians tout small businesses as the engines of job creation, the Small Business Administration looks into the facts and figures of these claims.

SEC Outlines Requirement that Companies Report Cyber Theft and Attack —The Washington Post reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission is pressing companies to disclose data breaches to shareholders, issuing new guidelines this week that clarify a long-standing requirement that companies report “material” developments, or matters significant enough that an investor would want to know about them. The guidance spells out that cyberattacks are no exception.


Agencies Propose Privacy Training in Wake of Data Theft — The Defense Department, General Services Administration and NASA released a proposed regulation last week requiring all contractors that handle federal records containing personally identifiable information to complete privacy training.  The new rule would, in many cases, codify already existing privacy training practices government-wide. TRICARE, the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Veterans Affairs Department already require contractors to take privacy training, says Nextgov.


Sizing up the Small Business Jobs Machine — Through the years, politicians have credited small businesses with creating anywhere from 60 percent to 80 percent of new jobs. Armed with new tools for tracking job creation, the Small Business Administration estimates such firms create about 65 percent of the nation's net new jobs—jobs created minus jobs eliminated.  There are big caveats, ‘though, ranging from how small business is defined to how much the jobs pay and how long they last, reports The Wall Street Journal.