As the largest e-commerce company in the world, Amazon leverages its massive workforce to achieve market dominance. But how many employees does Amazon actually have? As a small business consultant, I‘m often asked this question by entrepreneurs looking to understand Amazon‘s scale and growth strategies.
In this article, I‘ll provide the latest key statistics and insights into the size of Amazon‘s global and U.S. workforce. Understanding the magnitude of Amazon‘s human capital can help small retailers learn from the company‘s approach as they build their own teams.
Snapshot of Amazon‘s Employee Base
Let‘s start with some top-level statistics on Amazon‘s total headcount:
- 1.6 million: Amazon‘s total global workforce as of July 2022, according to company filings. This includes full-time, part-time, and contract workers.
- 1.52 million: Amazon‘s worldwide employees as of December 2021, per their annual report.
- 75%: Percentage of Amazon‘s employees based in fulfillment and transportation roles as of 2021. This illustrates the importance of logistics roles.
- 27%: Compounded annual growth rate of Amazon‘s global workforce from 2007 to 2021. Their employee base has rapidly expanded.
Amazon‘s total employees have grown over 27% annually from 2007-2021 [Source: Amazon Annual Reports]
So in little over a decade, Amazon has grown from less than 40,000 employees to over 1.5 million today. This astonishing growth underscores the scale of their ecommerce empire. Next, let‘s zoom in on U.S. headcount specifically.
Breakdown of Amazon‘s U.S. Workforce
Amazon employs over 1 million workers in the United States across various job families. Here‘s a snapshot:
- 1,125,300: Amazon‘s total U.S. workforce as of July 2022, according to company filings.
- 569,000: Number of full-time and part-time Amazon employees in the U.S. at end of 2021.
- 556,000: Amazon‘s U.S. headcount at end of 2020 showing pandemic-fueled growth.
- 40%: Percentage of Amazon‘s global workforce based in the U.S. as of 2021. America remains their largest employee base.
To add some context, research shows that Amazon‘s U.S. headcount now exceeds the entire population of 6 US state capitals. This puts the scale of their domestic workforce into perspective!
Driving Factors Behind Amazon‘s Expanding Ranks
Several key factors have driven the rapid expansion of Amazon‘s global and U.S. workforce:
- Growing business scale: More customers and products naturally require more employees for fulfillment, delivery and customer service.
- Increased automation: While automation improves efficiency, Amazon still needs human employees to operate and manage these technologies.
- New business ventures: Amazon‘s expansion into new industries like healthcare and entertainment also adds headcount.
- Physical footprint growth: Hundreds of new warehouses, data centers and corporate offices necessitate hiring.
- Seasonal needs: Amazon‘s workforce swells by up to 200,000 during the holiday peak season for temporary roles.
By relentlessly focusing on growth, Amazon has built an unmatched workforce size that fuels its worldwide dominance. Small businesses can apply insights from Amazon‘s hiring growth strategy as they carefully scale up their own teams for success.
Key Takeaways on Amazon‘s Workforce
In summary, key points on Amazon‘s employee base include:
- Amazon employs over 1.6 million workers globally with 1.1 million in the U.S. alone.
- Their workforce has grown at ~27% annually over the past 15+ years.
- The majority work in fulfillment/transportation roles critical to Amazon‘s operations.
- Continued investments in emerging areas will likely add to hiring momentum.
For small retailers, understanding the magnitude of Amazon‘s workforce provides useful perspective on their strategy for success. Businesses should thoughtfully build their teams to support growth while optimizing for efficiency.
