The Hill News

Last week, Representative Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) and Representative Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.), together with their colleagues, came together to form the Congressional Small Business Information Technology Caucus, signaling their recognition of the role the IT sector plays in meeting a number of national priorities. We believe this development could not come soon enough.

While the nation has been riveted by the debate and drama in Washington, D.C. over the debt limit, let’s not overlook the other fundamental challenge -- job creation. Here, the IT industry continues to be a crucial pillar.

There is no greater engine of jobs than the 30-million strong small business sector, whose employees represent over 99 percent of all employer firms and employ over half of all private sector employees.

The majority of IT firms in America fall into this category. Of the roughly 385,000 IT firms in the US, 95 percent -- or about 360,000 firms -- have fewe! r than 50 employees.  

These IT firms are the traditional job creators and can help get the US economy back on a healthy trajectory.  However, these and other small firms are also not rebounding as quickly as experts had predicted -â€" a trend that is impacting the overall national economy.

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