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Service and sales workers · code 5414

Security guards

Security guards patrol or monitor premises to guard property against theft and vandalism. They control access to establishments and maintain order and enforce regulations at public events and within establishments. Tasks include - (a) patrolling premises and checking doors, windows and gates to prevent and detect signs of unauthorized entry; (b) controlling access to establishments, monitoring and authorizing the entrance or departure of employees and visitors, checking identification and issuing security passes; (c) circulating among visitors, patrons or employees to preserve order, protect property from theft or vandalism and enforce the regulations of the establishment; (d) responding to alarms, investigating disturbances and contacting superiors, police or firefighters as appropriate; (e) performing security checks of passengers and luggage at airports; (f) picking up and ensuring the safe delivery of cash and valuables to banks, automated teller machines and retail establishments. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Bodyguard - Doorkeeper - Museum guard - Security guard - Security patrolman/woman - Watchman/woman Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Beach patrolman/woman - 5419 - Lifeguard - 5419

None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count. It ranks 145 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • security guard

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

79.8
Holds up
against AI Not Exposed

AI could take on 20.2 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 20.2 = 79.8

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

46.9
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 4 US jobs

27.7
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 30.4 · hand skill 29 · cramped spaces 23.7 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 46.9 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 36.5, while the average is 20.2. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 36.5

    Controlling access to establishments, monitoring and authorizing the entrance or departure of employees and visitors, checking identification and issuing security passes

    Low
  2. 23.5

    Responding to alarms, investigating disturbances and contacting superiors, police or fire fighters as appropriate

    Very Low
  3. 17.5

    Performing security checks of passengers and luggage at airports

    Very Low
  4. 16

    Patrolling premises and checking doors, windows and gates to prevent and detect signs of unauthorised entry

    Very Low
  5. 15

    Picking up and ensuring the safe delivery of cash and valuables to banks, automated teller machines and retail establishments.

    Very Low
  6. 13

    Circulating among visitors, patrons, or employees to preserve order, protect property from theft or vandalism and enforce the regulations of the establishment

    Very Low

6 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

One Australian job matches, but only partly: not everyone in it does this job. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
61
AI does it for you
33

Helping wins by 28 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 4422

Compared with similar jobs

There are 39 jobs in the “Service and sales workers” group, averaging 74.3. This one is above that.