1. SANTA CLAUS

2. you will need to “BE TOLERANT OF unexpected behaviours from children”.

3. what really SETS an applicant APART is a “natural white beard”.

4. holiday vacancies ['veɪkənsɪz]

5. The number of positions in retail IS THE HIGHEST since 2014.

6. 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%.

7. hordes of temporary staff ['hɔ:dz]

8. STOCK SHELVES, GIFT-WRAP MERCHANDISE and say “ho ho ho” IN THE FOYER.

9. bricks-and-mortar

实体的、现实世界存在的;

10. A RECORD NUMBER OF 120,000 people are to be hired at Target.

11. The TIGHTEST JOBS MARKET in over a decade means more DISPOSABLE INCOME, and therefore more consumption.

12. temporary staff.

13. At the end of the summer there were over a million more open POSITIONS nationwide THAN PEOPLE LOOKING FOR WORK.

14. GET A HEAD START.

15. hosted its first ONE-DAY HIRING BLITZ to ENLIST 40,000 temporary workers, with interviews and driving-test SIGN-UPS in nearly 170 locations.

16. is LURING seasonal workers by ENTERING THEM IN A RAFFLE FOR gifts and holidays.

17. VIA an online form, WITHOUT RÉSUMÉS or interviews.

18. RISING WAGES ACROSS THE ECONOMY help make seasonal work more WORTHWHILE.

19. Amazon is IN THE VANGUARD: it raised its HOURLY MINIMUM to $15 from November 1st.

20. the world’s MOST-VISITED jobs site, the number of searches for jobs with Amazon in America TRIPLED.

21. It has STAYED HIGH since.

22. TEMPORARY SUMMER JOBS, many of them in agriculture, are often TAKEN BY MIGRANTS WHO RETURN HOME AFTERWARDS.

23. Temporary winter jobs, BY CONTRAST, more often GO TO LOCALS.

24. The difference is IN PART BECAUSE winter work usually requires language skills and is less likely to be covered by SPECIAL VISA SCHEMES

25. But the tight jobs market is SPEEDING UP a longer-run trend, which may in time FLATTEN SEASONAL SPIKES IN DEMAND FOR LABOUR.

26. Amazon IS AHEAD OF THE PACK here, too.

27. ATTRIBUTES TO greater use of robots in the retail giant’s FULFILMENT CENTRES.

28. Since many retail and delivery tasks ARE RIPE FOR AUTOMATION, this trend could TERMINATE SWATHES OF HOLIDAY JOBS.

a large part of something that includes several different things:

29. That would make the season LESS OF A SCRAMBLE FOR employers.

30. But THE ECONOMY AS A WHOLE could LOSE OUT in a less obvious way.

be deprived of an opportunity to do or obtain something

31. the annual hiring BINGE means they can easily find work.

32. a third of its seasonal PACKAGE-HANDLERS

33. Holiday work thus acts as a PATH FROM economic inactivity INTO the labour force

34. At least robots cannot GROW BEARDS