Employment at Apple has risen nearly 50 percent during the past year, according the company's annual 10-K report, filed this morning with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The numbers amount to a boom in employment at the company, although they could raise questions about whether the company might need to cut back if it's ultimately affected by the economic downturn..

The maker of the Mac, iPhone and iPod reports that it had the equivalent 32,000 full-time employees as of the Sept. 27 end of its fiscal year, plus another 3,100 temporary workers, according to this morning's filing. That compares with 21,600 full-timers the previous year, plus 2,100 temporary workers back then. (See last year's filing here.) A year before that, in 2006, the company had a mere 17,787 full-timers and 2,399 temporary workers.

The trend comes at a time of big growth for Apple's business, as it has expanded beyond on its core Mac business into iPods and iPhones. Revenues hit $7.9 billion for the company in its recently completed fiscal year, an increase of 27 percent over the prior year.

During a recent conference call with analysts, Apple CEO Steve Jobs acknowledged the potential effects of the economic downturn but spoke in positive terms about the company's prospects. "In summary, we have the strongest product lineup in Apple's history, the most talented employees, and the best customers and $25 billion in the bank," he said. "We may get buffeted around by the waves a little bit but we will be fine and stronger than ever when the water is calm in the future."

Microsoft's employment also soared during its fiscal 2008, ended June 30, but that was largely due to its acquisition of online advertising company aQuantive.

I've contacted an Apple representative to find out more about what's fueling the employment trends, and I'll update this post depending on the response.

Update, 3:30 p.m.: Digging further into the Apple filing, a large chunk of the employment increase was due to growth in Apple's retail segment. The company added 8,000 retail employees during the year -- growing from 7,900 retail employees in 2007 to 15,900 in 2008. Subtracting out retail employment from both years, full-time employment in the rest of the company still grew about 17 percent -- from 13,700 employees in 2007 to 16,100 in 2008.