ON STAFF: Are Holiday Workers Low in Stock?

Turkeys and frenzied shoppers might be far from people’s minds as summer weather refuses to budge in some parts of the country, but that hasn’t stopped retailers from starting the search for holiday workers. Leading the pack is Kohl’s Corp., which began its recruitment drive for a 90,000-strong temporary army in the midst of a hot and sticky July. Target Corp. followed suit last month, putting the call out for more than 130,000 seasonal hires for its stores and distribution centers, up from around 120,000 last year, while Macy’s is on the lookout for 80,000 and Gap Inc. a smaller-than-usual 30,000 across all its brands. Amazon.com will be hot on their heels, expected to unveil its seasonal hiring plans shortly. Last year, it advertised around 100,000 holiday positions. But with news on Friday that the U.S.’s unemployment rate is hovering at a 50-year low of 3.5 percent and with job openings across all industries already topping seven million and 865,000 in the retail sector, will companies be able to fill all these positions or will they find holiday workers out of stock? Gad Levanon, chief economist at think-tank The Conference Board, for one, thinks employers will have their work cut out for them. “Finding qualified

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