SEATTLE _ Amazon.com said it plans to add 100,000 full-time U.S. employees over the next 18 months, a move that comes amid pressure on the private sector by the incoming Trump administration to create jobs.
Seattle-based Amazon said Thursday that by 2018 it plans to have more than 280,000 full-time U.S. employees, versus 180,000 at the end of 2016.
The jobs cover a wide range of disciplines, from developers and engineers that work on cloud computing to warehouse operators that handle millions of packages.
The company also highlighted its role as a platform for third-party providers that use its online site to sell wares and also create jobs, as well as a revenue generator for the contractors who sign up with the e-commerce giant to deliver packages. Marketplace, Amazon's online platform for third-party merchants, supports 300,000 jobs in the U.S., Amazon said.
"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's 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."
A hiring binge by Amazon is nothing new: The company has grown dramatically since its foundation, adding 150,000 U.S. jobs since 2011. It is well on its way to becoming the second-largest employer among the Fortune 500, after archrival Wal-Mart.
In Seattle, where it recently advertised more than 8,000 jobs, the company has transformed not only the labor market but the urban landscape. Amazon said Thursday it had more than 40,000 employees in Washington.
But the announcement seems to fit within the context in which President-elect Donald Trump lambastes, often via Twitter, companies that take jobs out of the U.S. and praises those companies that create them.
Earlier this week Trump met with Jack Ma, CEO of Amazon's China-based rival Alibaba. According to media reports, they discussed job creation in the U.S.
In a news conference Wednesday, Trump _ who has previously argued with Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post _ vowed to be the biggest job producer "God ever created."
Amazon's announcement contrasts with a big retrenchment among major retailers such as Macy's, which have seen their business buffeted by the growth of the Seattle retailer.
