Amazon Plant Expansion Calls for More Employees

Online retailer Amazon will hire hundreds of temporary and full-time employees in the next few weeks for its West Columbia facility, according to news reports. 

The 1.2 million-square-foot building was recently completed, according to a report in The State, and the company is starting to fully use the facility.

, the company announced. Interviewees wil be selected from a pool of online applicants. 

The company already employs more than 1,000 people at its 1.2 million-square-foot building, according to The State. 

The plant's expansion grew the facility to the size of 28 football fields — more than double the size of the plant when it opened in October, according to the report. Automated equipment was installed to handle the merchandise.

Amazon committed to hiring 2,000 South Carolina employees by 2013 in exchange for a tax break on items sold in South Carolina, according to an Associated Press report. The company also plans to open warehouses in Spartanburg and North Charleston.