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Wisconsin lost an estimated 6,000 private-sector jobs in July and the unemployment rate climbed to 7.3% from 7% in June and 6.8% in May, according to preliminary data released Thursday by the state Department of Workforce Development.

July marks the second consecutive month of deep private-sector job losses after Wisconsin lost a revised 11,300 private-sector jobs in June, which was the deepest job losses in Wisconsin in a year.

In the government sector, meanwhile, Wisconsin lost an estimated 500 jobs, led mainly by cutbacks in cities, counties and public schools. Net losses in both the government and private sectors led to an overall decrease of 6,500 total non-farm jobs last month in Wisconsin, the report said.

The estimated job losses in July, however, are smaller than the margin of error for monthly state jobs data. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles the figures each month for the nation and each of the 50 states, Wisconsin's monthly employment survey can be off by as many as 9, 340 jobs in either direction in any given month.

The agency emphasized that the monthly figures are estimates that are prone to major revisions. It noted that the payroll estimates are extrapolated from a monthly survey of 3.5% of Wisconsin employers, called the Current Employment Statistics survey. The unemployment rate is extrapolated from a monthly survey of 1,450 Wisconsin households, which amounts to 0.06% of the state's households.

Earlier Thursday, the same agency released a separate report showing that Wisconsin added 37,464 private-sector jobs between March 2011 to March 2012. The data in that report comes from a quarterly census that covers more than 95% of employers in Wisconsin. The quarterly census, which is considered the most accurate available, is seldom discussed because it is released with a time lag of as much as 12 months.