Wisconsin's unemployment rate dropped slightly as the state added an estimated 7,300 private-sector jobs in August.
The 7,300 jobs added in August comes from a monthly survey of employers that's had some big ups and downs this year. The survey has been criticized, sometimes even ridiculed by the Walker administration for being an unreliable measure of jobs, but as of right now it's the best data available for 2013.
Cumulatively, it shows the state has added nearly 27,800 private-sector jobs this year. If hiring were to continue at that pace, Wisconsin would not come close to hitting Governor Scott Walker's pledge to help create 250,000 jobs in his first term, but it would make 2013 the strongest year for private-sector hiring since the recession.
Wisconsin's unemployment rate dropped from 6.8 percent to 6.7 percent in August. It's calculated from a separate monthly survey of households. The federal government will release quarterly census job numbers next week. They're the most thorough and accurate, but because of that, there's a lag between when they're collected and when they're reported. Next week's numbers cover the 12-month period ending in March.
