WASHINGTON, D.C. ? U.S. employers added a disappointing 121,000 jobs last month, wary of bulking up payrolls with the economy slowing and energy prices rising. Wages rose sharply, fanning inflation worries.

The latest employment snapshot, released Friday by the Labor Department, also showed that the nation’s civilian unemployment rate held steady at 4.6 percent.

In some ways, the report crystallized the conflicting economic forces that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues must weigh as they decide what to do next with interest rates.

The count of new jobs added to the economy in June did mark an improvement from the 92,000 new positions logged in May – the fewest in seven months.

But it still fell short of economists’ forecasts for an increase of about 175,000.