U.S. economy adds 94,000 new jobs

The unemployment rate in the United States remained steady in November at 4.7 per cent, as employers added 94,000 jobs to their payrolls.

Economists had expected job growth of about 90,000 positions for the month.

The report released Friday by the U.S. Labour Department indicated strong hiring in the fields of education, health services, retail, government and professional services.

A pullback in the U.S. housing market and the fallout from the credit crunch contributed to a drop in employment in construction, manufacturing and financial services sectors.

While November's job growth was slightly above expectations, the U.S. government bumped its estimate for October's payroll increase to 170,000 in place of the 166,000 reported earlier. The government, however, reduced its figure for September's job gains to 44,000 from its previous estimate of 96,000.

www.cbc.ca