WASHINGTON — Prices U.S. consumers paid in November for goods and services surged on higher energy costs, while underlying inflation sped up, data Friday said.

Consumer prices rose 0.8% last month, and the core rate that excludes food and energy costs climbed 0.3%, the Labor Department reported.

A separate report on the economy showed industrial production in the U.S. rose 0.3%, more than Wall Street expected.

The numbers seemed to support the Federal Reserve’s view that inflation risks remain. The policy-making Federal Open Market Committee this week voted to lower interest rates just 25 basis points to 4.25% despite indications the economy is slowing. Some on Wall Street had argued for a 50-point cut.

“The acceleration in the core does suggest, in our view, that the Fed will remain concerned about inflation risks despite the steady slowdown in growth,” Lehman Brothers economist Zach Pandl wrote in a note to clients.

The CPI’s 0.8% increase was up sharply from October’s 0.3% rise and marked the biggest climb since September 2005. The 0.3% advance in the core CPI followed a 0.2% gain in October and marked the biggest increase in underlying inflation since January.

“Inflation is not going away, and it is not just the rising cost of energy is that is punishing households,” said Joel Naroff, who runs an economic consulting firm.

Energy prices last month increased 5.7% compared with October. Food prices increased 0.3%. Medical care prices, meanwhile, advanced 0.4%, while clothing prices were up 0.8%. Transportation swelled 2.9% on the month. Housing, which accounts for 40% of the CPI index, was up 0.4%. Rent increased by 0.4%.

Friday’s report completed a trio of horrible reports on inflation. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that import prices rose at a 17-year high in November, reflecting higher energy prices as well as the weak dollar. Thursday, it said producer prices jumped at a 34-year high, largely on the back of high energy prices.

Still, annual growth in core consumer inflation is not too far above the top end of the Fed’s assumed comfort zone of under 2%. The Fed’s preferred gauge, the core price index for personal consumption expenditures, is within that range at 1.9% annual growth through October.

“With economic activity expected to be weak over the next several quarters, there is little risk of any significant rise in core inflation,” Insight Economics chief economist Steven Wood wrote in a note to clients. “Future FOMC actions will depend on conditions in the financial markets and the broader economy, not on inflation concerns.”

The economy is fighting a housing slump expected to restrain growth sharply in final months of 2007. The first estimate for fourth-quarter gross domestic product, which is the measure of the economy, is due out Jan. 30. GDP rose by 4.9% in the third quarter, which includes July through September.

The manufacturing side of the economy expanded modestly in November after a big drop during October, a Fed report showed Friday. U.S. industrial production increased 0.3%, driven higher by increased output of cars, trucks and computers. It had tumbled 0.7% in October.

“The welcome rebound in U.S. manufacturing output growth during November, in tandem with other recent data, indicate that while factory activity remains sluggish, it has yet to fall into an actual contraction,” said Cliff Waldman, economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, a trade group.

Manufacturing production increased 0.4% compared with October. Motor vehicles and parts rose 1.7% last month, after falling 1.5% in October and 3.2% during September.

Machinery production increased 0.5% in November after dropping 1.3% in October. Business equipment increased 0.9%. Output fell 0.6% in October. Output at the nation’s technology firms increased 2.3% in November, with computers up 1.7%.