U.S. made solid economic gains

Trend is expected to continue. Job growth, high prices raise concerns.

- BY MATTHEW BOESLER AND BEN HOLLAND

WORKERS saw their wage gains cool in 2025. Above, a picket outside a store.

(ROBERT GAUTHIER Los Angeles Times)

President Trump rode a wave of voter frustration about the economy to a second term in the White House, promising lower prices and a “golden age” for the nation.

How is his administration doing so far? Despite some wild ups and downs, the U.S. economy turned in a solid year of growth for 2025 — a trend economists expect to continue in 2026.

Data showed the economy expanded in the third quarter at the fastest pace in two years, thanks to resilient consumers and business investment.

The headline figures, though, obscure some less-rosy details. Job gains have been lackluster and concentrated in just a handful of industries, while high prices remain a concern, prolonging the affordability-related struggles that beset Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden.

CHIP SOMODEVILLA Getty Images THE PRESIDENT and Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell tour the renovation of the central bank headquarters.

Here is a series of charts that illustrate how the U.S. economy fared in 2025.

Labor market

It was a rough year for American job seekers amid the shakeup caused by tariffs, a pullback in foreign tourism and the rise of artificial intelligence in the workplace. The unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in November — up by half a point in 2025 — marking the highest level since 2021.