The Rise of the Service Economy in the US

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After 9-11, private security has exploded in the United States. The industry was booming until the pandemic hit and people went home. Now companies are hiring guards to patrol empty buildings. Part of it is that police can't come as quickly as they used to for things like burglaries or car break-ins. But some of it is just kind of this fear of quality of life things like homelessness which makes people fearful.

The three biggest private employers in North America are Walmart, Amazon, and a security firm you’ve maybe never heard of: Allied Universal. Time’s Alana Semuels explains the rise of poorly trained and poorly paid private security guards across America.

This episode was produced by Miles Bryan, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Patrick Boyd and Michael Raphael, and hosted by Noel King.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained

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