The nation gained a modest 94,000 jobs in November, the Labor Department reported yesterday, pulling back considerably from the previous month in the clearest sign yet that the American economy was headed for a substantial slowdown.<\/p>\n
But the jobs report, a much-anticipated indicator of the health of the economy, also provided some comfort that the United States had not slipped into a recession and might not be weakening as rapidly as some experts feared. With business leaders expressing uncertainty about the prospects for further growth, analysts said, a better view of the direction of the economy was not likely to emerge until next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe expansion is intact, but increasingly frayed,\u201d\u009d said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody\u2019s Economy.com. The job creation numbers are \u201cindicative of a very fragile economy that will come undone unless conditions improve soon<\/p>\n