US employers boost payrolls by 94,000; jobless rate holds steady at 4.7 percent

U.S. employers added a modest 94,000 jobs to their payrolls in November, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.7 percent and wages grew briskly, encouraging signs that America's employment climate is holding up in the face of turbulence in the housing and credit markets.

The fresh snapshot of the labor market, released by the Labor Department on Friday, showed that hiring was brisk in education and health services, retail, professional services, the government and elsewhere. That helped to offset job losses in construction, manufacturing and financial services _ casualties of the housing slump and credit crunch.

The 94,000 new jobs in November came after a …