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As it reported an improvement in Wisconsin's unemployment in January, the Department of Workforce Development said Wednesday the economy was "on the mend."

The state's private sector added an estimated 10,100 jobs in January, although the government sector lost ground at the federal, state and local levels. Those figures, from the Department of Workforce Development in Madison, are seasonally adjusted to smooth out fluctuations from school vacations and tourism.

Wisconsin's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined to 7.4% in January from 7.5% in December and 9.2% in January 2010.

"The economy is on the mend," Workforce Development Secretary Manny Perez said in Wednesday's announcement. "Our online job site lists more than 27,000 job postings as of March 2011."

"In terms of employment, the Wisconsin economy is doing much better," said Abdur Chowdhury, a professor of economics at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

January's gains followed a gain of 11,600 jobs in December, which represented a fifth of all the private-sector jobs created all of last year, Chowdhury said.

"Like the national economy, Wisconsin has crossed over from the worst period and it's improving," Chowdhury said. "Maybe it's not improving as quickly as we'd like, but we do see some improvement."

January job gains were spread across manufacturing, which added an estimated 4,200 jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis, as well as retail and service sectors.

The state's government sector showed the opposite trend. The public sector lost 3,900 jobs in January, including 3,600 fewer jobs in state government, according to the Department of Workforce Development.

The state issues its data for January about a month later than its usual monthly deadline because the agency needs to recalibrate and revise its labor data for the past year and realign it with the current year, which delays January's information. All data are estimates, based on the extrapolation of narrow surveys. Data for states have a wider margin of error than national data and are prone to future revisions, statisticians say.

National data for February, released on Friday last week, also appear to point to an improvement. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nation added more private sector jobs in February than it has in nearly a year, while the U.S. unemployment rate dipped below 9% for the first time in 21 months.

"March begins the state's seasonal hiring climb, and national jobs data show substantial private sector hiring increases for February," Perez said.

The current job market presents "a good time to redouble job search efforts," according to Perez, who encouraged job seekers to apply for some of the 27,000 job listings posted on www.JobCenterofWisconsin.com, which is operated by his agency. "This is a great time for individuals to re-enter the workforce, help the state reduce its unemployment burden and help revitalize our economy."

Wisconsin state data for February is due in two weeks, on March 23.