WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added a robust 242,000 workers in February as retailers, restaurants and health care providers drove another solid month for the resilient American job market.

The Labor Department said today that the unemployment rate held steady at 4.9 percent.

The pickup in job gains shows that the U.S. economy has largely weathered a broader global slowdown without suffering much blowback. Worker pay slipped last month after accelerating in January. But more Americans who had been sitting on the sidelines began searching for jobs and found them.

Employers expect solid consumer demand in the months ahead even though the stock market has turned turbulent, oil prices have hurt energy industry jobs and a stronger dollar has reduced export sales.

Retailers added 54,900 jobs last month. Restaurants and bars added 40,200.

Hiring by construction companies, retailers and health care providers has offset layoffs at manufacturers and fossil fuel companies — two sectors squeezed by the pressures of uncertainty in China, sluggishness in Europe, declining oil prices and a stronger dollar.

Job losses for the mining sector have totaled 140,400 in the past 12 months. And manufacturing added just 12,000 jobs over that time.