Amazon grew its workforce by 18,000 people worldwide over the past quarter, boosting its global employment by more than 10 percent in just three months. The increase of 18,000 people is the largest quarterly growth in the company’s history.

The company has grown to 183,100 employees worldwide as of June 30, from 132,600 workers at the same point a year ago, according to Amazon’s earnings report released on Thursday. That’s an increase of 38 percent in the past year.

“The vast majority of that is in operations, where we’re adding people in our (fulfillment centers) and call centers,” Brian Olsavsky, Amazon’s chief financial officer, said during the company’s investor earnings call on Thursday.

However, he noted that the company is also continuing to expand in technical and product employment. Many of those jobs are based at its Seattle headquarters.

The vast majority of that is in operations, where we’re adding people in our (fulfillment centers) and call centers

Amazon has previously said it employs more than 20,000 people in Washington state, but on Thursday it confirmed it now employs 24,000 in the state. The number was reported earlier today by the Puget Sound Business Journal. By comparison, Microsoft employs 117,354 people worldwide, and 42,225 people in the Seattle region.

Amazon has been gobbling up space in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood for years, as the company rises on the global stage and expands rapidly in the Pacific Northwest. Amazon is now expanding further with a new three-block campus under construction just north of downtown Seattle, boosting the regional economy but also adding to the transportation and housing challenges faced by the region.