Marks & Spencer, a bellwether for the British high street, has announced a traineeship programme for 1,000 young people. In an era where retail footfall is often dismissed as a relic, this is a bold bet on bricks and mortar. The market will be watching closely: if M&S can train a new generation of shop-floor talent, it might just prove that the high street is not dead, but merely evolving.
However, sceptics will note that this is a drop in the ocean of youth unemployment, and the real test lies in whether these traineeships convert into permanent jobs. As gilt yields rise and inflation bites, the cost of such programmes must be weighed against shareholder returns. But for now, M&S is signalling that the future of retail is still, at least partly, person-to-person.
