Amazon adds 6000 US jobs to meet customer demand

 US online retail giant Amazon said Wednesday it is creating more than 6,000 full-time jobs in the United States as it expands its deliveries system.

The decision to hire additional employees to process customer orders was taken to "meet growing customer demand," the Seattle-based company said.

The hiring will expand staff at 19 of the company's more than 50 delivery centers across the country.

Amazon has been expanding its delivery options beyond its $99 a year membership program Prime, which offers two-day delivery on tens of thousands of products on its website.

The new Prime Now service for Prime members offers paid one-hour delivery and free two-hour delivery for selected urban areas, such as Manhattan and Miami.

Amazon employed about 154,100 full-time and part-time employees worldwide at the end of 2014.

Shares in Amazon were up 0.7 percent at $428.35 in morning Nasdaq trade in New York.