U.S.employers stepped up hiring last month, boosting payrolls by 167,000 and keeping the unemployment rate steady at a still historically low 4.5 per cent. Workers' wages grew briskly.

The latest snapshot of the nation's employment climate, released Friday by the Labour Department, showed the jobs market ended 2006 on a strong note, and provided fresh evidence that the troubled housing and automotive sectors aren't dragging down employment across the country.

The tally of new jobs added to the economy last month exceeded analysts' forecasts for a gain of around 115,000 and was the best showing since September. Analysts were predicting the politically sensitive jobless rate would remain unchanged from November, which it did.

For all of 2006, the nation's unemployment rate dropped to a six-year low of 4.6 per cent. In 2005, the unemployment rate averaged 5.1 per cent.

With the economy losing momentum, though, many economists predict the jobless rate will climb this year and average around 4.9 per cent.

Employers showed not only a greater appetite to hire in December, but also more willingness to boost compensation to workers.

Workers, many of whom had seen their paycheques eaten by inflation, saw wages grow robustly last month. Average hourly earnings jumped to $17.04 US, a 0.5 per cent rise from the previous month. Analysts were forecasting a more modest, 0.3 per cent increase.

Over the last 12 months, wages grew by a strong 4.2 per cent. That matched the annual gain registered in November and was exceeded only by a 4.3 per cent annual increase in November 2000.