The U.S. economy slowed at the end of 2025, capping a volatile year in which growth ultimate held firm, as resilient consumers and an A.I. investment boom helped keep growth on track despite tariffs, uncertainty and the longest government shutdown in history.
Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, grew at a 1.4 percent annual rate in the final three months of the year, the Commerce Department said on Friday. That was down sharply from a 4.4 percent rate in the third quarter, partly because of the prolonged shutdown.
For 2025 as a whole, measured from the end of 2024, G.D.P. increased 2.2 percent, compared with 2.3 percent the previous year. The numbers are preliminary and will be revised at least twice in the coming months.
Growth in the fourth quarter was dragged down by the 43-day federal government shutdown, which left hundreds of thousands of public sector employees temporarily without paychecks. Furloughed workers eventually received back-pay, and economists believe the shutdown’s long-term impact on G.D.P. will be small. But the episode may have lowered growth by about 1 percentage point at the end of 2025; the subsequent rebound should lift growth by a similar amount in early 2026.
Ben Casselman is the chief economics correspondent for The Times. He has reported on the economy for nearly 20 years.
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