Level of Unsold Goods Up 0.2% in November : Economy: Meanwhile, business sales inched up only 0.1%. The two figures indicate that consumer demand remained feeble in late 1991.

Stocks of unsold goods at businesses rose 0.2% in November, the third straight monthly gain, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

It was another sign of feeble consumer demand in late 1991.

At the same time, business sales crept up just 0.1% in November-- providing little impetus for production and new jobs.

The 0.2% increase in inventories was smaller than the 0.4% advances the previous two months.

“The critical question,” said economist Samuel D. Kahan of Fuji Securities in Chicago, “is whether the inventory buildup is voluntary or involuntary.”

If it is voluntary, he said, inventories will remain at their lean levels pending a pickup in demand. If it is involuntary--caused by lack of demand--factories and stores will cut back on orders, further depressing the economy.

Kahan said he believes that much of the inventory rebuilding in the last part of 1991 was “just a normal picking up from lean levels.” Inventories had declined for seven straight months until September.

While the buildup was not big enough to be alarming, the data showed the weak pace of economic activity late last year, said Jean Sundrla, economist at Evans Economics Inc.

The Commerce Department said inventories totaled a seasonally adjusted $814.3 billion in November, up from $813.0 billion a month earlier.

Sales totaled $543.6 billion after seasonal adjustment, up from $543.0 billion in October when they rose 0.4%.

Still, the ratio between inventories and sales remained at 1.50 for the third straight month. That meant that it would take 1.5 months to exhaust the backlog at the November sales pace.