December numbers continue a slow rise upward

Wisconsin added 4,500 private-sector jobs in December 2012, according to preliminary figures for the month from the state Department of Workforce Development.

That's progress for Gov. Scott Walker on his campaign promise to add 250,000 jobs by the end of his term in January 2015.

But for the promise to be kept, the pace of hiring will have to accelerate, given that 212,489 more jobs are needed to reach that mark.

"The number of employed continues to increase and the number of unemployed continues to decline, but both have moved very slowly relative to historical experience with past recoveries," John Heywood, economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

We continue to rate it In the Works.