# US investigation and security services employment rose 6% from November 2022, peaked at 1,049,800 in October 2025 and has been flat to slightly lower since

Page: https://flyvolo.ai/en/changes/ev-20260801-security-guard-1
Date: 2026-08-01 · Stage: Labour impact
Can this record move a task judgement? yes
Occupation: https://flyvolo.ai/en/careers/security-guard

## Scope

NAICS 5616, investigation and security services, all employees, seasonally adjusted. The recent turn is small — about 0.6% below the October 2025 peak — and ten months is not a trend; it is recorded because it is the first flattening in this series since 2021 and because it would be the place a camera-driven roster reduction would first appear. Nothing here attributes it to technology. The series covers contract security firms only: guards employed directly by a retailer, a hospital or a transit operator sit in that employer's industry, and in-house guarding is a large share of the total.

## Source

- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, CES series CES6056160001 (investigation and security services) — https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES6056160001 (primary source)

## What this means

The series is recorded for the turn rather than the level. Contract security grew steadily until October 2025 and has been flat to slightly lower since, and this is the first flattening since 2021. This page argues that camera deployment shows up as fewer guards covering more ground rather than as a guard being replaced — if that is happening at scale, this is the line it would appear on, which is why the turn is worth watching even though ten months is not a trend.

## What it does not show yet

It attributes nothing. A flattening after four years of growth has many ordinary explanations — a labour market, a contract cycle, retail closures — and this record does not claim technology is one of them. It also covers contract security only, and in-house guarding is a large share of the total.

## How to verify it yourself

Check your own site's guard count against two years ago, and check whether any cameras were installed between then and now. If the count fell and the cameras arrived first, you have a local answer this national series cannot give.


More: https://flyvolo.ai/llms.txt