Holiday sales expected to increase 3.6%
NRF expects retail sales in November and December (excluding autos, gas and restaurants) to increase a solid 3.6% to $655.8 billion. Online sales are forecast to increase between 7% and 10% over last year to as much as $117 billion. Retailers are expected to hire between 640,000 and 690,000 seasonal workers this holiday season, in line with last year’s 675,300 holiday positions.