The Minnesota Office of the Secretary of State said Tuesday that the state had 60,827 new businesses filings last year, Finance & Commerce reports. That's an 18 percent increase over the previous year and the second highest number of new filings in Minnesota’s history. The record is 63,338 set back in 2009.

“New business filings reflect Minnesota’s great business climate,” Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said in a news release. “As our economy continues to improve in 2013, new business filings will remain strong.”

"It may be a result of the economy, it may be a result of people being out of work for an extended period of time," Kelly Guncheon, president of Small Business Minnesota, told the Star Tribune. "We have an incredibly entrepreneurial state."

Minnesota’s unemployment rate slipped down to 5.7 percent in November, compared to the national unemployment rate of 7.7 for November.