Amazon_Workforce_IBTimes_R
Number of Amazon employees worldwide at the end of the respective period. Statista / IBT

While many companies were forced to cut jobs in face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon went on an unprecedented hiring spree in 2020. The e-commerce behemoth created more than 400,000 full-time and part-time jobs in the first nine months of the year, adding to its already sizeable workforce.

With more than 1.1 million employees across the globe, Amazon is only the second U.S. company to employ more than a million people (not counting McDonald's franchise employees). And while there's no end in sight to its growth, the company will have a hard time grabbing the number 1 spot anytime soon: retail giant Walmart currently employs 2.2 million people around the world.