E-commerce giant Amazon.com said today it plans to immediately add 5,000 full-time jobs to its U.S. fulfillment network to meet growing customer demand.

Seattle-based Amazon said it has begun the hiring process for the 5,000 newly created jobs, which will be located in 17 fulfillment centers across the country. It is also hiring 2,000 customer service jobs, which will be a mix or full- and part-time positions, at four U.S. customer service centers.

Amazon, which employs more than 20,000 full-time employees at its U.S. fulfillment centers, said the new workers will receive 30 percent higher median wages than the pay generally offered to workers at traditional retail stores. The new employees will receive healthcare, 401(k), and stock awards from the first day of hire, the company said.

In what has become an almost obsolete practice in corporate America, Amazon will pay up to 95 percent of eligible employees' tuition regardless of whether they remain with the company after acquiring their new skills.

Last week, Amazon reported that second-quarter sales rose 22 percent from the year-earlier period. Operating and net income declined year-over-year, however, as the company continues to invest heavily in its operations to meet growing demand.

Earlier this year, DC VELOCITY profiled Amazon's push into the business-to-business (B2B) market for industrial parts distributions through its relatively new unit, Amazon Supply. The $559 billion a year B2B market for industrial products is estimated at three times the size of the online business-to-consumer market that Amazon dominates.