Unemployment declined to 4.7 percent last month, approaching a five-year low, as the economy churned out 211,000 new jobs -- a sign of steady economic growth and good news for cash-strapped consumers.

Nearly all the job gains were in services and professions such as health care, hospitality, retail, architecture and engineering, with manufacturing posting a decline of 5,000 jobs, the Labor Department reported yesterday. Average wage gains fell off slightly to a 3.4 percent pace over last year, but remained near five-year highs.

Many signs have emerged of a strengthening labor market this year. Joblessness is falling among all the main worker groups, from blacks and Hispanics to adult white men and women, and the number of discouraged workers and people working part-time because they must is dwindling. The number of workers on unemployment rolls is dropping by the week.

"The job market is good, and there is no danger of a sudden end to the economic expansion," despite a sharp slowdown in the housing market, high energy prices, and threats of bankruptcy in Detroit, said Roger M. Kubarych, an economist with HVB Group...