U.S. economic growth slowed in the final three months of last year, dragged down by the six-week shutdown of the federal government and a pullback in consumer spending.

Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz pointed to several concerns he had about the US economy, like the decline in blue-collar jobs & uncertainty over rates.

The economy had grown by 4.4% the quarter prior.

The US economy grew at a much slower pace in the final months of 2025 as the historic government shutdown weighed on economic activity, ending a year that saw the weakest growth since the pandemic.

The report follows several others that have reignited concerns about weakening job growth.

The U.S. economy grew at a rate of 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to an estimate released on Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

With demand holding up, inflation heated up last quarter. The price index for gross domestic purchases, which measures prices paid by U.S. residents for goods and services, increased at a 3.7% rate. That reading was the fastest in three years and followed a 3.4% pace of increase in the third quarter.

Goldman Sachs analysts have suggested that the impact of AI on the US economy was "basically zero" in 2025. The investment bank argued that large language

Jobs growth is decoupling from economic growth for the first time since the post-Great Financial Crisis era, Mohamed El-Erian said.

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - U.S. economic growth likely slowed to a still-solid pace in the fourth quarter because of disruptions from last year's government shutdown and a moderation in consumer spending,