TO BE HIRED as Santa Claus at Boscov’s, a department store in Pennsylvania, you will need to “be tolerant of unexpected behaviours from children”. But what really sets an applicant apart is a “natural white beard”. The insufficiently hirsute can apply for one of over 880,000 other holiday vacancies across America. The number of positions in retail is the highest since 2014. With consumer confidence close to an all-time peak, the National Retail Federation expects retailers to sell 4.3-4.8% more than last year in real terms, up from an average rise for the past five years of 3.9%.
Shops are looking for hordes of temporary staff to stock shelves, gift-wrap merchandise and say “ho ho ho” in the foyer. Among the biggest bricks-and-mortar retailers, a record number of 120,000 people are to be hired at Target. Macy’s is hiring 80,000. Since online sales are expected to be a fifth higher…
