Amazon to hire 100,000 for full-time, full-benefit jobs in the next 18 months

SEATTLE -- Amazon plans to hire 100,000 people across the U.S. over the next 18 months.

The online retailer said Thursday that the jobs are full time and come with benefits. Many of the new jobs will be at fulfillment centers currently being built in a number of states, including California, Florida and Texas.

The Seattle company says the new jobs will be filled by people of differing experiences and education levels.

Amazon.com Inc. says it's expanded its U.S. workforce by more than 150,000 people in the last five years.



Already one of the country's biggest employers, Amazon will grow its workforce from 180,000 to 280,000 by mid-2018.

“Innovation is one of our guiding principles at Amazon, and it’s created hundreds of thousands of American jobs. These jobs are not just in our Seattle headquarters or in Silicon Valley—they’re in our customer service network, fulfillment centers and other facilities in local communities throughout the country,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon Founder and CEO. “We plan to add another 100,000 new Amazonians across the company over the next 18 months as we open new fulfillment centers, and continue to invent in areas like cloud technology, machine learning, and advanced logistics.”

Once the current expansion is finished in Seattle, Amazon will have 30 buildings covering 10 million square feet of the downtown core.

The hiring surge comes as traditional retailers cut jobs and close stores.

Last week, the Limited said it would close all its stores and Macy's moved forward with plans to close 68 stores and said it will cut more than 10,000 jobs.