WASHINGTON – Economic growth is picking up in the final three months of the year, fueled by higher consumer spending, rising business stockpiles and modest increases in hiring.

The start of the holiday shopping season in November helped produce the sixth straight monthly increase in retail sales. Gift-buying Americans spent more on clothing and electronics, and sales of autos and furniture also rose.

Still, the improvement might not last. Unemployment remains high, and incomes are stagnant. That’s likely to restrain growth early next year. So could any worsening of Europe’s financial crisis.

Because pay raises have been slight, consumers have dipped into savings to finance much of the additional spending. That trend may not be sustainable.

“Looking ahead to early next year, we expect consumer spending to slow markedly amid sluggish income growth, shrinking household wealth, low savings and tight credit conditions,” Michelle Meyer, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said in a note to clients.

For now, the economic data remains encouraging. Job openings declined slightly in October, but they were still at the second-highest level in three years.

Businesses also built up their inventories in October, after holding them steady in September. That means extra factory production was likely needed to increase companies’ stockpiles.

Overall, most analysts expect the economy to grow at an annual rate of at least 3 percent in the October-December quarter, up from 2 percent in the July-September period.

Retail sales rose 0.2 percent in November, the government said Tuesday.

That was lower than October’s gain, which was revised up to show a 0.6 percent increase. And it was the smallest increase in five months.

Even so, more spending on retail goods shows the economy is continuing to grow steadily, if slowly.

An increase in furniture and auto sales suggested that consumers made more big purchases in November. So-called “core” sales, which exclude the volatile categories of autos, gasoline and building materials, rose for an 11th straight month.

At the same time, sales fell at gasoline stations and restaurants.

“People decided to go to the store and do their shopping rather than go to the restaurant,” Jonathan Basile, an economist at Credit Suisse.

The dip in job openings in October followed a three-year high in September.

Each opening is sparking heavy competition. Nearly 14 million people were unemployed in October. That means there was an average of 4.25 people out of work for each available opening. That’s worse than September’s ratio of 4.14. In a healthy economy, an average of only about two people vie for each opening.

And business inventories rose 0.8 percent in October. When companies build up their inventories, it usually signals that they expect more sales.

The report is the government’s first read on monthly consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of economic activity.

Even though retail sales rose only slightly from October to November, they’ve increased more sharply over a broader period.

 

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