A sharp reversal from the last time we checked

Signs continue to indicate the economy is improving in Wisconsin.

Monthly employment reports -- while notoriously volatile -- have shown some recent increases, though Gov. Scott Walker still has a long way to go to meet his promise that the state would add 250,000 jobs in his four-year term.

A less-discussed promise was Walker"s related vow that the state would create 10,000 new businesses in that four-year period. It"s a metric with somewhat limited value as an indicator of job creation, experts say, but it is related to economic activity.

When we last visited this promise in May 2012, the number was heading in the wrong direction. State records showed that as of April 30, 2012 the total number of state businesses was 4,338 fewer than when Walker took office.

Things have changed dramatically in the 14 months since.

The latest reports from the state Department of Financial Institutions say that the number of business entities increased 11,895 between that April 2012 report and June 30, 2013, the most recent records available.

On a net basis, the state has 7,557 more businesses than on Dec. 31, 2010, just before Walker took office. The most recent report said there were 371,926 businesses at the end of June 2013, compared with 364,369 when Walker took over.

The turnaround came in large part from an addition of 6,699 domestic limited liability corporations, by far the largest category, to a total of 220,040, in the first six months of 2013. That category alone is up 12,798 since we last looked at this promise.

Experts caution that the addition of business entities doesn"t necessarily translate to new jobs.

Most of the new registrations typically are Limited Liability Companies set up for tax or liability purposes and employ no one, two lawyers who specialize in business formations told us in when we last rated this item in 2012.

The monthly jobs count shows the state has added an estimated 18,800 jobs since the start of this year. Our jobs count says that as of June 2013 there have been an addition of 80,882 jobs since Walker took office. That leave him 169,118 jobs left to achieve his goal of 250,000 jobs.

The jobs promise remains In the Works on the Walk-O-Meter, which we use to track 60-plus promises Walker made as a candidate in 2010.

Given the movement into positive territory on the business creation promise, we are moving it from Stalled to In the Works.