From The Wall Street Journal Online

U.S. payroll growth accelerated during November, while worker wages grew slightly less than expected and the unemployment rate ticked higher.

A separate report showed that consumer sentiment slipped more than expected in December amid concerns about the future of the economy.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 132,000 jobs last month after growing a revised 79,000 in October and 203,000 in September, the Labor Department said Friday. The previous two months were initially reported as increases of 92,000 and 148,000 jobs, respectively. Though one month was revised higher and one lower, combined they produce a net gain of 42,000 jobs.

Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc., said there was nothing in the report "to move the Federal Open Market Committee out of its sideline seat, in which it looks to be increasingly comfortable." The Fed stopped raising the target for the federal-funds rate over the summer and has held it at 5.25% as the economy slows down.

The unemployment rate edged up to 4.5% in November from 4.4% a month earlier. Average hourly earnings increased three cents, or 0.2%, to $16.94 from October's $16.91. Earnings were up 4.1% from a year earlier. The average work week held steady at 33.9 hours.

The payrolls number came in higher than the 110,000-job increase economists had expected, according to a survey by Dow Jones Newswires. Average hourly earnings were expected to rise by a slightly higher 0.3%, while the jobless rate came in on target.

Heading into the all-important holiday shopping season, the services sector gained 172,000 jobs in November. Retail firms added 20,000 jobs in November. Leisure and hospitality gained 31,000 jobs.

Drew Matus, senior financial-markets economist at Lehman Economics, called it a "strong report that suggests growing optimism in the health of the labor market and reinforces the idea that weakness in the economy is not widespread but rather, focused on two sectors...manufacturing and construction." Slowdowns in housing and auto markets have taken a toll on manufacturing and construction firms, which lost 15,000 and 29,000 jobs, respectively, last month.

The separate household survey, which includes the self-employed and not just large corporations, pointed to an overall employment gain of 277,000 jobs. Peter Morici, a business professor and former economist, said the wide gap between the numbers suggests that "many people who have been displaced from positions with regular employers have sought refuge in home-based consulting and blue-collar pickup jobs." He clarifies that weak economic growth isn't necessarily creating a lot of the traditional type of self-employment opportunities and that many of the "newly self-employed" workers may in fact be "underemployed day workers."

The University of Michigan, in a separate report, said that its consumer-sentiment index dropped to 90.2 in a mid-December reading from November's final reading of 92.1. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected the index to slip more modestly to 92 even. A measure of consumers' assessment of current conditions improved to 108.2 from 106 at the end of November, but a gauge of expectations for the future fell to 78.6 from 83.2.