Citing a rise in Wisconsin’s unemployment rate rising over the past nine months, Gov. Scott Walker called for a special legislative session on jobs set to begin Thursday.

Walker signed an executive order on Wednesday that will create his term’s second special session on jobs and will require the Wisconsin State Legislature to focus on 26 jobs bills that have been proposed by both Democrats and Republicans.

In a statement announcing the executive order, Walker said he and the Legislature must work to bring down the state’s unemployment rate, a reference to his campaign promise of creating 250,000 private sector jobs by 2015.

According to Walker, one of the biggest deterrents for employers to hire new workers is the lack of certainty in the state’s economy.

“The main goal of this special session [is] to create as much certainty as we can for employers and workers at the state level so they can create jobs. By calling another special session, we show that jobs remain at the front of our agenda,” Walker said in the statement.

Walker also contrasted the political climates in Wisconsin and Washington, D.C., where President Obama unveiled his jobs bill three weeks ago but has not yet been put to a vote in Congress.

Unlike the stalemate in the nation’s capital, Walker said the session will be strictly focused on creating jobs and not on partisan bickering.

Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, questioned Walker’s purpose behind calling for the special session.

“Gov. Walker used his first special session to ram through an agenda that polarized, divided and distracted the state. This second special session appears to be largely another political ploy to ram through favors to special interests by denying the public the right to participate,” Barca said in a statement.

Barca also pointed out his party’s priority has been to pass bills that will create jobs immediately, and he said the governor’s special session would not affect the unemployment rate right away.

While statements issued by Republican leaders show their support for the special session, Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, was cautious in lending his support.

Nass warned against the costs of passing certain jobs bills and called for legislators to examine the actual impact some bills may have on job creation.

“Each bill needs to be reviewed with a keen eye towards costs and benefits to the taxpayers. I won’t simply support a bill to placate the whining of Democrats or the theater of bipartisanship,” Nass said.

In a statement, Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller, D-Monona, said he thought this special session would be favorable towards special interests instead of the unemployed, a description he extended towards Walker’s administration and policies.

“There have been power grabs, special interest payoffs and passage of an extreme, radical agenda that gives billions in tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations while sticking middle class and working families, children and seniors with drastic cuts to education and health care. Middle class and working families need far more than what the governor and legislative Republicans are offering today,” Miller said.