Amazon reported approximately 1,298,000 full-time and part-time employees worldwide on December 31, 2020. Jeff Bezos’s 2020 shareholder letter separately said the company hired 500,000 employees during the year. Those figures describe year-end headcount and hires over a year, respectively—not a net increase of 500,000 employees.
How many people did Amazon employ at the end of 2020?
Amazon’s 2020 Form 10-K, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2021, reported approximately 1,298,000 full-time and part-time employees as of December 31, 2020. That is the precise year-end figure in the filing, and “nearly 1.3 million” is an appropriate rounding. Read Amazon’s 2020 Form 10-K.
The count refers to employees. The cited filing does not establish that contractors or delivery partners are included, so it should not be treated as a count of everyone who performed work for Amazon.
What does the 500,000 figure mean?
In his 2020 Letter to Shareholders, published in 2021, Jeff Bezos wrote: “Last year, we hired 500,000 employees and now directly employ 1.3 million people around the world.” The 500,000 figure is the number Amazon said it hired during 2020; it is not the company’s December 31 headcount or proof that its workforce grew by 500,000 net employees. The letter does not detail departures or other adjustments that would be needed to calculate net growth. Read the 2020 Letter to Shareholders.
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- Your favorite music and content – Play music, audiobooks, and podcasts from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and others or via Bluetooth throughout your home.
- Alexa is happy to help – Ask Alexa for weather updates and to set hands-free timers, get answers to your questions and even hear jokes. Need a few extra minutes in the morning? Just tap your Echo Dot to snooze your alarm.
- Keep your home comfortable – Control compatible smart home devices with your voice and routines triggered by built-in motion or indoor temperature sensors. Create routines to automatically turn on lights when you walk into a room, or start a fan if the inside temperature goes above your comfort zone.
- Do more with device pairing – Fill your home with music using compatible Echo devices in different rooms, or create a home theatre system with Fire TV.
- Say goodbye to drop-offs and buffering - With eero Built-in, Echo Dot doubles as a mesh wifi extender, adding up to 1,000 sq. ft. of wifi coverage to your existing eero network.
Why did Amazon also report more than 400,000 hires?
In a December 2020 holiday-season release, Amazon said it had hired more than 400,000 full- and part-time employees worldwide during the year and was continuing to hire. The later shareholder letter summarized the completed year as 500,000 hires. These are updates from different points in the year; the sources do not provide a monthly breakdown that reconciles them more precisely. Read Amazon’s December 2020 release.
Is 1.3 million Amazon’s current workforce?
No. The 1.3 million figure describes Amazon’s workforce at the end of 2020, not its present-day headcount. Amazon’s 2024 Sustainability Report later described more than 1.5 million full- and part-time employees around the globe. That is a reported 2024 figure, not a verified count for October 2026. Read Amazon’s 2024 Sustainability Report.
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- MEET ECHO SPOT - A sleek smart alarm clock with Alexa and big vibrant sound. Ready to help you wake up, wind down, and so much more.
- CUSTOMIZABLE SMART CLOCK - See time, weather, and song titles at a glance, control smart home devices, and more. Personalize your display with your favorite clock face and fun colors.
- BIG VIBRANT SOUND - Enjoy rich sound with clear vocals and deep bass. Just ask Alexa to play music, podcasts, and audiobooks. See song titles and touch to control your music.
- EASE INTO THE DAY - Set up an Alexa routine that gently wakes you with music and gradual light. Glance at the time, check reminders, or ask Alexa for weather updates.
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- Your favorite music and content – Play music, audiobooks, and podcasts from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and others or via Bluetooth throughout your home.
- Alexa is happy to help – Ask Alexa for weather updates and to set hands-free timers, get answers to your questions and even hear jokes. Need a few extra minutes in the morning? Just tap your Echo Dot to snooze your alarm.
- Keep your home comfortable – Control compatible smart home devices with your voice and routines triggered by built-in motion or indoor temperature sensors. Create routines to automatically turn on lights when you walk into a room, or start a fan if the inside temperature goes above your comfort zone.
- Do more with device pairing – Fill your home with music using compatible Echo devices in different rooms, or create a home theatre system with Fire TV.
- Say goodbye to drop-offs and buffering - With eero Built-in, Echo Dot doubles as a mesh wifi extender, adding up to 1,000 sq. ft. of wifi coverage to your existing eero network.
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- Meet Echo Dot Max: Experience rich room-filling sound that automatically adapts to your space and fine-tunes playback. Features a built-in smart home hub and Omnisense technology for highly personalized experiences.
- Music to your ears: With nearly 3x the bass versus Echo Dot (2022 release), it fits beautifully in any space, delivering your personal sound stage with deep bass and enhanced clarity. Listen to streaming services, such as Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, and SiriusXM. Encore!
- Do more with device pairing: Connect compatible Echo smart speakers and smart displays in different rooms, or pair with a second Echo Dot Max to enjoy even richer sound
- Simple smart home control: Set routines, pair and control lights, locks, and thousands of smart home devices that work with Alexa without needing a separate smart home hub. With Omnisense technology, you can activate routines via temperature or presence detection.
- Say goodbye to drop-offs and buffering - With eero Built-in, Echo Dot Max doubles as a mesh wifi extender, adding up to 1,000 sq. ft. of wifi coverage to your existing eero network.
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- Your favorite music and content – Play music, audiobooks, and podcasts from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and others or via Bluetooth throughout your home.
- Alexa is happy to help – Ask Alexa for weather updates and to set hands-free timers, get answers to your questions and even hear jokes. Need a few extra minutes in the morning? Just tap your Echo Dot to snooze your alarm.
- Keep your home comfortable – Control compatible smart home devices with your voice and routines triggered by built-in motion or indoor temperature sensors. Create routines to automatically turn on lights when you walk into a room, or start a fan if the inside temperature goes above your comfort zone.
- Do more with device pairing – Fill your home with music using compatible Echo devices in different rooms, or create a home theatre system with Fire TV.
- Say goodbye to drop-offs and buffering - With eero Built-in, Echo Dot doubles as a mesh wifi extender, adding up to 1,000 sq. ft. of wifi coverage to your existing eero network.
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