Online retailer Amazon will hire more than 70,000 full-time jobs for the holiday season to meet an increase in customer demand, the company has said in a press release, marking a 40 percent hike in hiring from the year before.
Thousands will be hired on a permanent basis after the holiday season, Amazon said, adding that these seasonal employees will also be eligible for health care benefits.
(Read More: Amazon keeps pressure on iPad with new Kindles)
"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," Dave Clark, Amazon's Vice-President of worldwide operations and customer service, said in the press release.
The announcement comes a week after the firm said it would look to employ 15,000 people in the U.K. over the same period. The internet firm has come under fire in the country for the amount of tax that it pays to the government and was grilled by lawmakers back in May.
Over the past six years, Amazon has paid around $9 million in income tax for over $23 billion in sales in the U.K.. But job creation and investment is seen by many firms, including Starbucks, as a key example of how these corporations provide for the communities they do business.
(Read More: Loss leadership lessons from Amazon's Jeff Bezos)
The Seattle-based company reported second-quarter earnings in July that fell short of Wall Street forecasts, as it continued to spend heavily to expand internationally and increase up its Web services business.
The company's operating margin was just 0.5 percent, as its operating expenses jumped 23 percent.
—By CNBC.com's Matt Clinch. Follow him on Twitter @mattclinch81
Correction: This story has been corrected to reflect that Amazon plans to hire 40 percent more seasonal workers, and its second-quarter earnings fell short of Wall Street expectations in July.