MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- New jobs numbers show Wisconsin lagged the rest of the country in job creation in 2011.

But the numbers released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics are in line with what Gov. Scott Walker released ahead of the official publication date.

Walker caused a ruckus in May when he released Wisconsin's data early. The final numbers released by BLS were only 16 different from what Walker's Department of Workforce Development said they would be.

However, the roughly 20,000 jobs the state added last year ranked it about 40th in the country when compared with all 50 states.

Walker says he is encouraged by the numbers and predicts there will be more job growth in small businesses in the second half of the year.

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Data showing how many jobs Wisconsin added in the last three months of 2011 that became a major issue in Gov. Scott Walker's recall election is set to be released.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release the jobs data for Wisconsin and all 49 other states on Thursday.

Walker caused a ruckus in May when he released Wisconsin's data early. Walker said the information showed Wisconsin actually added 23,608 jobs in 2011 based on the census of nearly all of the state's businesses.

Another measure, which surveyed only a small portion of businesses, determined the state lost nearly 34,000 jobs last year.

Democrats accused Walker of cooking the books to make the jobs numbers appear better than they were in advance of the recall.