U.S. nonfarm productivity growth slowed notably in the fourth quarter of 2025, easing to 2.8% quarter-over-quarter from a sharply stronger 5.2% in the previous quarter. The data, updated on 5 March 2026, show that while productivity continues to rise, the pace of improvement has moderated compared with the earlier surge.
The latest reading compares the change in productivity in the current quarter with the previous quarter, while the earlier 5.2% figure reflected the change in the fourth quarter versus the quarter before that. The deceleration suggests that the exceptional gains seen earlier in the year were not sustained at the same intensity, though the continued positive growth still points to ongoing efficiency gains in the U.S. nonfarm sector.
Analysts and investors will be watching subsequent releases closely to determine whether the fourth-quarter slowdown marks a return to a more sustainable trend or the start of a broader cooling in productivity growth, which can have implications for corporate margins, wage dynamics, and the broader inflation outlook.
