diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/AbstractFlowParser.java b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/AbstractFlowParser.java
index c6479d673..83e393624 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/AbstractFlowParser.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/AbstractFlowParser.java
@@ -269,6 +269,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractFlowParser extends AbstractSingleBeanDefinitionPar
 		if (!transitionElementExists) {
 			list.addAll(createTransition(FlowExecutionStatus.FAILED, FlowExecutionStatus.FAILED.getName(), null, null,
 					stateDef, parserContext, false));
+			list.addAll(createTransition(FlowExecutionStatus.UNKNOWN, FlowExecutionStatus.UNKNOWN.getName(), null, null,
+					stateDef, parserContext, false));
 			if (!hasNextAttribute) {
 				list.addAll(createTransition(FlowExecutionStatus.COMPLETED, null, null, null, stateDef, parserContext,
 						false));
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/DefaultUnknownJobParserTests.java b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/DefaultUnknownJobParserTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7c8d37d5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/DefaultUnknownJobParserTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2006-2007 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.batch.core.configuration.xml;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.springframework.batch.core.BatchStatus;
+import org.springframework.batch.core.ExitStatus;
+import org.springframework.batch.core.JobExecution;
+import org.springframework.batch.core.StepExecution;
+import org.springframework.batch.core.listener.StepExecutionListenerSupport;
+import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
+import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner;
+
+/**
+ * @author Dan Garrette
+ * @since 2.0
+ */
+@ContextConfiguration
+@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
+public class DefaultUnknownJobParserTests extends AbstractJobParserTests {
+
+	@Test
+	public void testDefaultUnknown() throws Exception {
+
+		JobExecution jobExecution = createJobExecution();
+		job.execute(jobExecution);
+		assertEquals(2, stepNamesList.size());
+		assertEquals("[s1, unknown]", stepNamesList.toString());
+
+		assertEquals(BatchStatus.UNKNOWN, jobExecution.getStatus());
+		assertEquals(ExitStatus.UNKNOWN, jobExecution.getExitStatus());
+
+		StepExecution stepExecution1 = getStepExecution(jobExecution, "s1");
+		assertEquals(BatchStatus.COMPLETED, stepExecution1.getStatus());
+		assertEquals(ExitStatus.COMPLETED, stepExecution1.getExitStatus());
+
+		StepExecution stepExecution2 = getStepExecution(jobExecution, "unknown");
+		assertEquals(BatchStatus.UNKNOWN, stepExecution2.getStatus());
+		assertEquals(ExitStatus.UNKNOWN, stepExecution2.getExitStatus());
+
+	}
+	
+	public static class UnknownListener extends StepExecutionListenerSupport {
+		@Override
+		public ExitStatus afterStep(StepExecution stepExecution) {
+			stepExecution.setStatus(BatchStatus.UNKNOWN);
+			return ExitStatus.UNKNOWN;
+		}
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/NextAttributeUnknownJobParserTests.java b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/NextAttributeUnknownJobParserTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f2932fa28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/NextAttributeUnknownJobParserTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2006-2007 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.batch.core.configuration.xml;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.springframework.batch.core.BatchStatus;
+import org.springframework.batch.core.ExitStatus;
+import org.springframework.batch.core.JobExecution;
+import org.springframework.batch.core.StepExecution;
+import org.springframework.batch.core.listener.StepExecutionListenerSupport;
+import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
+import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner;
+
+/**
+ * @author Dave Syer
+ * @since 2.1.9
+ */
+@ContextConfiguration
+@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
+public class NextAttributeUnknownJobParserTests extends AbstractJobParserTests {
+
+	@Test
+	public void testDefaultUnknown() throws Exception {
+
+		JobExecution jobExecution = createJobExecution();
+		job.execute(jobExecution);
+		assertEquals(3, stepNamesList.size());
+		assertEquals("[s1, unknown, s2]", stepNamesList.toString());
+
+		assertEquals(BatchStatus.COMPLETED, jobExecution.getStatus());
+		assertEquals(ExitStatus.COMPLETED, jobExecution.getExitStatus());
+
+		StepExecution stepExecution1 = getStepExecution(jobExecution, "s1");
+		assertEquals(BatchStatus.COMPLETED, stepExecution1.getStatus());
+		assertEquals(ExitStatus.COMPLETED, stepExecution1.getExitStatus());
+
+		StepExecution stepExecution2 = getStepExecution(jobExecution, "unknown");
+		assertEquals(BatchStatus.UNKNOWN, stepExecution2.getStatus());
+		assertEquals(ExitStatus.UNKNOWN, stepExecution2.getExitStatus());
+
+	}
+	
+	public static class UnknownListener extends StepExecutionListenerSupport {
+		@Override
+		public ExitStatus afterStep(StepExecution stepExecution) {
+			stepExecution.setStatus(BatchStatus.UNKNOWN);
+			return ExitStatus.UNKNOWN;
+		}
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/DefaultUnknownJobParserTests-context.xml b/spring-batch-core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/DefaultUnknownJobParserTests-context.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f0352e5dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/DefaultUnknownJobParserTests-context.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans:beans 
+	xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/batch" 
+	xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/batch http://www.springframework.org/schema/batch/spring-batch-2.1.xsd
+	http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.5.xsd">
+
+	<beans:import resource="common-context.xml" />
+	
+	<job id="job">
+		<step id="s1" parent="step1" next="unknown"/>
+		<step id="unknown" parent="unknownStep" next="s2"/>
+		<step id="s2" parent="step1"/>
+	</job>
+	
+	<step id="unknownStep">
+		<tasklet ref="nameStoringTasklet"/>
+		<listeners>
+			<listener><beans:bean class="org.springframework.batch.core.configuration.xml.DefaultUnknownJobParserTests$UnknownListener"/></listener>
+		</listeners>
+	</step>
+
+</beans:beans>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/NextAttributeUnknownJobParserTests-context.xml b/spring-batch-core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/NextAttributeUnknownJobParserTests-context.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4e02267b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/batch/core/configuration/xml/NextAttributeUnknownJobParserTests-context.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans:beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/batch" xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/batch http://www.springframework.org/schema/batch/spring-batch-2.1.xsd
+	http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.5.xsd">
+
+	<beans:import resource="common-context.xml" />
+	
+	<job id="job">
+		<step id="s1" parent="step1" next="unknown"/>
+		<step id="unknown" parent="unknownStep">
+			<next on="UNKNOWN" to="s2" />
+		</step>
+		<step id="s2" parent="step1"/>
+	</job>
+	
+	<step id="unknownStep">
+		<tasklet ref="nameStoringTasklet"/>
+		<listeners>
+			<listener><beans:bean class="org.springframework.batch.core.configuration.xml.NextAttributeUnknownJobParserTests$UnknownListener"/></listener>
+		</listeners>
+	</step>
+
+</beans:beans>
\ No newline at end of file