It was an economic quarter no one wants to repeat.

Even as the winter fades in the rearview mirror and growth shows signs of picking up, it is becoming clear just how weak the economy was in the first quarter of 2014.

The Commerce Department said on Thursday that the nation’s overall output shrank at an annual rate of 1 percent in the first three months of the year, revising downward its initial estimate from late April, which showed a very slight gain for the period. It is the first quarter in three years in which the nation’s output of goods and services has contracted.

The figures are bad news for the White House as well as for Democrats running for Congress in November’s midterm elections. Although there’s still time for growth to rebound before then — and recent data on hiring has been more encouraging — little room remains on the runway for an economic takeoff this year.

Republicans were quick to seize on Thursday’s report as more evidence that President Obama’s policies are not working.