Amazon.com Inc. said today it plans to hire 50,000 temporary workers to staff its warehouses for the holiday shopping season. Amazon, No. 1 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, says it employs some 20,000 permanent fulfillment workers in 40 U.S. warehouses.

“We’re hiring at our sites across the U.S. for talented individuals to help us deliver a great experience for our customers this holiday season,” says Dave Clark, Amazon’s vice president of global customer fulfillment.  “Temporary associates play a critical role in meeting increased customer demand during the holiday season, and we expect thousands of temporary associates will stay on in full-time positions.”  

Amazon would not comment about its hiring for last year’s holiday season except to say it plans to hire more workers in 2012 than in 2011. Amazon announced in fall 2011 plans to hire thousands of holiday workers in each of four states: Kansas (for its distribution center in Coffeyville), Kentucky (Campbellsville, Hebron and Lexington), Indiana (Whitestown, Plainfield and Indianapolis) and Nevada (Fernley and Las Vegas).

The big e-retailer likely has more holiday jobs to fill as it’s embarked on a program of opening more distribution centers in the U.S. and abroad in order to fulfill orders more quickly. Company officials said in July they planned to open an additional 18 fulfillment centers worldwide in 2012.

In September, the e-retailer said it would create 2,000 permanent jobs in the U.K. with the opening of three new fulfillment centers across the country over the next two years.  In the United States, Amazon has promised to build new fulfillment centers as part of several deals covering the collection of sales taxes for online purchases.