A downtick for February

Wisconsin's private sector job count ticked down in February, according to the latest state report.

The state lost 2,300 private sector jobs in that month, according to the Department of Workforce Development report issued March 28, 2013.

That comes a couple of weeks after the state said there were 12,400 private sector jobs added in January 2013.

Both reports are based on preliminary estimates from a small sample size that are subject to considerable revision. They are among the tools we use to monitor the top campaign promise made in 2010 by Gov. Scott Walker -- that the state would create 250,000 private sector jobs by the end of his four-year term.

For our job count we use a combination of the best available annual and monthly data supplied by the state and the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can see month-to-month changes in this graphic.

Factoring in the February numbers, our records say that the state added about 63,700 private sector jobs since Walker took office in January, 2011. The means he has 186,300 jobs to add in the remaining 21 months of his administration -- an average of 8,871 per month -- to meet his promise.

This promise remains In the Works.