Tracking the future of US economic growth | C-Suite Insights 1.8.25
US Economic Growth Impresses, but Uncertainties Loom in 2025
The US economy enters 2025 on strong footing after a year of surprisingly robust growth. Topped off by blowout holiday spending in Q4, we now project the economy expanded by an impressive 2.7% year-over-year in 2024.
For 2025, we expect real GDP growth of 2.0%—up from the previous forecast of 1.7%.
Consumers hanging in there: Recent tracking data confirm that consumer spending is still growing healthily—and may have further room to run.
Indeed, our concerns about credit card debt have abated somewhat after major upward revisions to income growth and the savings rate over the past 18 months.
But: Progress on inflation has stalled, and the Fed’s pace of rate cuts is likely to slow in 2025. Serious downside risks—including trade wars, tax hikes, and government spending cuts—could also dampen growth below our projected 2% pace.
The TCB take: For now, the US economy looks set for another year of above-trend growth before settling at its potential rate of 1.8% in 2026.
Announcing the Honorees of the 2025 ESG Leadership Awards
The ESG Center is proud to announce the recipients of its 2025 ESG Leadership Awards, celebrating companies that have excelled in integrating sustainability into their operations—benefiting society, stakeholders, and the natural environment.
Join us on April 23 in New York City as The Conference Board honors:
Why it matters: By spotlighting these leaders, The Conference Board aims to inspire the broader business community to embrace sustainable practices. Companies that do so will not only mitigate risks and enhance resilience but also drive innovation, improve stakeholder trust, and contribute to a healthier planet for future generations.
Prepare Your Workforce for the Impact of AI
How are HR leaders capitalizing on the benefits of AI? Despite AI’s growing use across a broad range of roles, reskilling workers ranks at the bottom of CHROs’ list of priorities.
Preparing for job displacement? Only 7% of CHROs are reskilling the workers who will be most impacted by AI.
The top priority: 62% of CHROs said modeling AI experimentation with pilots and use cases in human capital management functions was their top priority.
The TCB take: Organizations that don’t prioritize upskilling and reskilling their workforce might be caught in a perilous position, as the proliferation of AI requires new skills for different roles. By preparing and reskilling their workforce now, HR leaders will put their companies at a competitive advantage.
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2025: A Year in Preview—February 4-5 at The Plaza in New York City
Join fellow leaders for peer-to-peer conversations addressing the most pressing challenges and opportunities shaping business and society.
The agenda will draw on key data and insights from our annual C-Suite Outlook Survey, providing a foundation for discussions across four critical areas:
Featured speakers include:
Can DOGE Deliver $2 Trillion in Budget Cuts?
The new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is designed to recommend sharp budget cuts and eliminate many Federal regulations to reduce the Federal budget and deficit.
DOGE’s plans: While neither DOGE’s organization nor policy plans have yet to be formalized, some proposed suggestions include:
The TCB take: The goal of a responsible fiscal policy should be to reduce the US debt-to-GDP ratio to 70%.
To reduce the deficit, the Committee for Economic Development, the public policy center of The Conference Board (CED), has recommended reforming Federal health spending; making pandemic regulatory improvements permanent; saving Social Security; reforming permitting; and reviewing current regulatory rules that are outdated or redundant.
QUOTABLE: Marketing’s AI Revolution Is Just Beginning
“Thinking of AI as a tool, not as the solution, is really one of the critical points most marketing leaders are facing up to. The question isn’t ‘What can I use AI for?’ It’s ‘What job do I need to get done to deliver more growth, and do it at a lower cost, and how can AI help?'
[Recent survey research] from The Conference Board found 86% of mid-level and junior marketers were using AI every day or at least once a week… And they were mindfully using it. Looking across disciplines, we found marketing in any enterprise was one of the leaders who were adopting AI tools early on.”
— Ivan Pollard, Marketing & Communications Center Leader at The Conference Board. He joined C-Suite Perspectives to discuss the AI revolution in marketing.
Council Program Director at The Conference Board
2moImproving government efficiency is a worthy goal. To make any effective improvements in efficiency, the government must focus on the process, how work gets done, and what must be done. To simply eliminate people without any process or requirements changes, as many CEOs and COOs have learned, is not sustainable.