Online retail giant Amazon is going to create 7,000 jobs in the United Kingdom by the end of the year.

The American e-commerce company Amazon made the announcement Thursday in order to boost to Britain’s virus-hit economy, BBC reports.

The company will add a further 7,000 new permanent roles by the end of 2020 across more than 50 sites, Amazon said in a statement.

It has already created 3,000 new permanent roles in the UK this year, according to a report of AFP.

Ahead of the festive mood, it will recruit more than 20,000 seasonal posts across the country, it said on Thursday.

Since the Coronavirus pandemic triggers a surge in online shopping, it will take total permanent workforce in the UK to more than 40,000.

Amazon says that it will pay a minimum of £9.50 per hour for the new jobs.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma hailed the jobs announcement. He said that it is encouraging to see Amazon creating new jobs in the UK during a challenging time for many businesses.

This is a great news for those who have been looking for a new job, AFP reports quoting Sharma.

Apart from Amazon, supermarket giant Tesco is creating a vast recruitment to cope with booming online demand.

Tesco last week announced that it would create 16,000 new permanent positions, BBC reports.

They reported that online sales which had taken 20 years to reach 9 percent of their sales took just 20 weeks to nearly double to 16 percent, the BBC report said.

The announcement of new recruitment came while several retailers cut thousands of jobs following the country’s lockdown due to Coronavirus.

Amazon last month released plans to hire 3,500 employees for its technology hubs and corporate offices in the United States.