Amazon hiring 70,000 temp workers to fill holiday online orders

Amazon said this evening that it is hiring 70,000 seasonal workers to fulfill holiday online orders. The world’s largest online retailer said that hiring spree will give it a holiday work force that is 40 percent higher than last year.

The Seattle online retailer said that it converted thousands of seasonal employees into regular, full-time roles after the holidays. It plans to do the same this year.

“So far this year, we have converted more than 7,000 temporary employees in the U.S. into full-time, regular roles and we’re looking forward to converting thousands more after this holiday season,” said Dave Clark, Amazon’s vice president of worldwide operations and customer service. “Each year, seasonal jobs lead to thousands of long-term, full-time roles in our sites–jobs that offer great pay, benefits starting on day one and the chance for employees to further their education through our Career Choice program.”

On average, seasonal employees make 94 percent of Amazon warehouse employee starting wages and are eligible for healthcare benefits. Since the start of the last recession in September 2008, Amazon has added more than 40,000 jobs in the U.S. Those jobs include 401(k), healthcare, stock awards, and tuition payment benefits.

Last year, Amazon said it hired 50,000 seasonal workers for the holiday period. And by “holiday,” we mean Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Solstice, and Ramadan, as well as the one traditionally featuring Santa Claus.

Dylan Tweney contributed to this report.