diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/repository/dao/JdbcStepExecutionDao.java b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/repository/dao/JdbcStepExecutionDao.java
index 57f7eb6dc..9898770d2 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/repository/dao/JdbcStepExecutionDao.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/core/repository/dao/JdbcStepExecutionDao.java
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ public class JdbcStepExecutionDao extends AbstractJdbcBatchMetadataDao implement
 					executionContext.putDouble(key, rs.getDouble("DOUBLE_VAL"));
 				}
 				else if (type == AttributeType.OBJECT) {
-					executionContext.put(key, rs.getObject("OBJECT_VAL"));
+					executionContext.put(key, SerializationUtils.deserialize(rs.getBinaryStream("OBJECT_VAL")));
 				}
 				else {
 					throw new UnexpectedJobExecutionException("Invalid type found: [" + typeCd
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/repository/dao/AbstractStepExecutionDaoTests.java b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/repository/dao/AbstractStepExecutionDaoTests.java
index 6fb65b2eb..4118dffda 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/repository/dao/AbstractStepExecutionDaoTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/repository/dao/AbstractStepExecutionDaoTests.java
@@ -201,5 +201,15 @@ public abstract class AbstractStepExecutionDaoTests extends AbstractTransactiona
 		}
 
 	}
+	
+	public void testStoreInteger(){	
+		dao.saveStepExecution(stepExecution);
+		ExecutionContext ec = new ExecutionContext();
+		ec.put("intValue", new Integer(343232));
+		stepExecution.setExecutionContext(ec);
+		dao.saveOrUpdateExecutionContext(stepExecution);
+		ExecutionContext restoredEc = dao.findExecutionContext(stepExecution);
+		assertEquals(ec, restoredEc);
+	}
 
 }
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/repository/dao/JdbcStepExecutionDaoTests.java b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/repository/dao/JdbcStepExecutionDaoTests.java
index a030419d3..e50075925 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/repository/dao/JdbcStepExecutionDaoTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/repository/dao/JdbcStepExecutionDaoTests.java
@@ -17,5 +17,5 @@ public class JdbcStepExecutionDaoTests extends AbstractStepExecutionDaoTests {
 	protected String[] getConfigLocations() {
 		return new String[] { "sql-dao-test.xml" };
 	}
-
+	
 }
diff --git a/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/step/item/StatefulRetryStepFactoryBeanTests.java b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/step/item/StatefulRetryStepFactoryBeanTests.java
index a5b0f1c05..8a81e6c06 100644
--- a/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/step/item/StatefulRetryStepFactoryBeanTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/core/step/item/StatefulRetryStepFactoryBeanTests.java
@@ -134,14 +134,14 @@ public class StatefulRetryStepFactoryBeanTests extends TestCase {
 	
 	public void testSkipAndRetry() throws Exception {
 		factory.setSkippableExceptionClasses(new Class[] {Exception.class});
-		factory.setSkipLimit(1);
+		factory.setSkipLimit(2);
 		List items = TransactionAwareProxyFactory.createTransactionalList();
-		items.addAll(Arrays.asList(new String[] { "a", "b", "c" }));
+		items.addAll(Arrays.asList(new String[] { "a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f" }));
 		ItemReader provider = new ListItemReader(items) {
 			public Object read() {
 				Object item = super.read();
 				count++;
-				if ("b".equals(item)) {
+				if ("b".equals(item) || "d".equals(item)) {
 					throw new RuntimeException("Read error - planned but skippable.");
 				}
 				return item;
@@ -154,8 +154,45 @@ public class StatefulRetryStepFactoryBeanTests extends TestCase {
 		StepExecution stepExecution = new StepExecution(step, jobExecution);
 		step.execute(stepExecution);
 		
-		assertEquals(1, stepExecution.getSkipCount());
+		assertEquals(2, stepExecution.getSkipCount());
 		// b is processed once and skipped, plus 1, plus c, plus the null at end
-		assertEquals(4, count);
+		assertEquals(7, count);
 	}
+	
+	//The following test fails due to current expected behavior of retry
+	//that will be addressed in 1.1
+//	public void testSkipAndRetryWithWriteFailure() throws Exception {
+//		
+//		factory.setSkippableExceptionClasses(new Class[] {RetryException.class});
+//		factory.setSkipLimit(2);
+//		List items = TransactionAwareProxyFactory.createTransactionalList();
+//		items.addAll(Arrays.asList(new String[] { "a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f" }));
+//		ItemReader provider = new ListItemReader(items) {
+//			public Object read() {
+//				Object item = super.read();
+//				System.out.print("Read Called! Item: [" + item + "]");
+//				count++;				
+//				return item;
+//			}
+//		};
+//		
+//		ItemWriter itemWriter = new AbstractItemWriter(){
+//			public void write(Object item) throws Exception {
+//				System.out.print("Write Called! Item: [" + item + "]");
+//				if ("b".equals(item) || "d".equals(item)) {
+//					throw new RuntimeException("Read error - planned but skippable.");
+//				}			
+//			}};
+//		factory.setItemReader(provider);
+//		factory.setItemWriter(itemWriter);
+//		factory.setRetryLimit(5);
+//		factory.setRetryableExceptionClasses(new Class[]{RuntimeException.class});
+//		AbstractStep step = (AbstractStep) factory.getObject();
+//		step.setName("mytest");
+//		StepExecution stepExecution = new StepExecution(step, jobExecution);
+//		step.execute(stepExecution);
+//		
+//		assertEquals(2, stepExecution.getSkipCount());
+//		assertEquals(9, count);
+//	}
 }