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Arizona's retail trade appears to be on the decline.  Department of Economic Security economist Aruna Murthy says it seems like a paradox, that when sales are up, related jobs are down, but she thinks there are good reasons,

“We are finding a lot of the stores we go into, they are either having automatic checkouts or they’re hiring fewer people,” Murthy said.

Murthy attributes the growth in sales and shrinking workforce to a sign of the times.  She says the minus in the equation is the fact that too many people are still coping with limited disposable incomes.