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Opinion
Conor Sen

Fewer Workers Selling Stuff, More Workers Doing Stuff

The U.S. has shed jobs in the retail sector, which is not as bad as it sounds. Those people become more productive in other jobs.
The rise of self checkout (along with productivity).
Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
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The retail sector in the U.S. has shed jobs month after month. That's not bad news.

The U.S. economy is shifting workers from jobs with low productivity -- like retail -- to jobs with high productivity -- like making things and providing services. That could be part of the answer for how the economy can get back to growing as rapidly as it once did.