U.S. employers kept their pace of hiring steady in December, falling short of the levels needed to bring down a still lofty unemployment rate and pointing to lackluster economic growth in 2013, Reuters reported . Other data on Friday gave stronger signals on the health of the economy, with the U.S. service sector activity expanding the most in 10 months. Payrolls, excluding farm jobs, grew by 155,000 last month, the Labor Department said. That was a touch more than analysts' expectations and only slightly below the revised gain of 161,000 reported for November. The jobless rate was steady at 7.8 percent. While firms kept on hiring despite the uncertainties raised by a budget stand-off in Washington, the report reinforced expectations of 2 percent economic growth this year. -- SPA
