• Specialized
r~ ~~' 0~' ~~~` ~~4

5

---

Job Tenure

we asked salon owners how long their current professional staff had been with them. Nationally, 29 percent of employees had been employed in the same salon for three to 10 years. Adding those who had been "on board" for more than 10 years raised the proportion to 60 percent (see Table 3.7),

Table 3.7: Percent of employees in different tenure categories by salon type.

Job Leavers

Salon owners were asked how many professionals stopped working in their salon between January l, 2006 and December 31, 2006. The average, 0.87 professional employees per salon, was relatively low. Throughout the entire industry, 321,750 professionals left their thencurrent positions. This is a sizeable decrease from 2003, when 370,048 professionals left their current positions.

Chart 3.8 shows what the leavers said they were going to do after leaving their current employer. It may be that plans changed after employees left their current job. Large percentages planned to stay in the industry or a related industry. An impressive 27 percent left to open their own salon, or to work from their home or as an independent booth renter.

---

Chart 3.8: Number of professionals in various post-employment activities

9%

o/_a

∎ Opened Own Salon

• Booth Rental pWorking at Home p Industry Related

• Industry Unrelated o School

• Family

p Unknown

 

16%

Summary

The salon industry employs nearly 1.7 million professionals, over half of whom are fulltime experienced employees who work as cosmetologists. While these professionals tend to move around within the industry, there were more vacated positions in 2006 than well-prepared entrants to fill the positions. A sizeable number of employees (27 percent) leave each year with plans to open their own salon, work from their home, or rent a booth and become independent contractors. This suggests that the industry provides the option to start one's own business.

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Chapter 4
Employment Outlook

Openings

In order to estimate the demand for new professionals in the industry, we asked salon owners how many professionals joined their staffs in 2006, including those who left and were rehired during the period. The results are shown in Chart 4.1.

Salon owners reported 484,660 job openings were filled during 2006. This represents an average of 1.3 openings per salon. Nearly 40 percent of all new positions were filled by inexperienced workers.

Chart 4.1: Number of new hires by experience.

The data indicate that over 182,000 inexperienced new hires entered the industry in the past year. NACCAS schools graduated 57,616 students who took and passed their state exam in 2006. According to these estimates, NACCAS schools account nearly one-third of newlytrained entrants to the field. Community colleges, high schools, adult education programs and unaccredited programs account for the rest. While the majority of institutions offering

---

Cosmetology programs are private, for-profit, nearly 400 - or 28°/0 of postsecondary institutions offering Cosmetology - are public. While for-profit postsecondary institutions represent the majority of Cosmetology program completions, public institutions accounted for 15% of completions in 2005 (the number of Cosmetology completions and institutions offering Cosmetology programs by sector can be seen in Table 4.1). We do not have any consistent estimates of how many graduates in the field come from other types of schools.

Table 4.1: Number of institutions offering Cosmetology programs and number of com letions b sector

	Number of Institutions	Number of Completions
Private, for-profit	958	69,212
Public	379	11,817
Private, non-profit	10	496

Source: BLS Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), 2005

Hiring of experienced versus inexperienced salon professionals does not appear to be related to salon type. Inexperienced workers accounted for 39 and 35 percent, respectively, of new employees at full service and specialized salons (from Chart 4.2).

Chart 4.2: Number of experienced and inexperienced professionals joining the staff, by salon type

500,000
450,000
400,000
350,000
300,000
250,000
200,000
150,000
100, 00,000
50,000
0

 

Full service

Specialized Nation

U Inexperienced ® Experienced

---

Shortages in Labor Force Supply

Salon owners were not always able to find the applicants they needed to fill vacancies. We asked whether they were always able to find trained professionals in 2006, and whether or

not they would have hired more professionals than they did.

During 2006, 54 percent of the salon owners answering the question reported they had job openings (Chart 4.3). And just as in 2003, nearly three-quarters (39 percent of the 54 percent) of those who tried to fill those positions said they were not always able to find qualified applicants. Salon owners have jobs waiting, but are not able to find properly trained employees.

Chart 4.3: Were you always able to find qualified professional employees?

Further, as shown in Chart 4.4, the SS percent of salon owners who report that they planned on increasing their professional staff during the first 6 months of 2007 will be hiring an additional 492,416 professional employees --1.3 jobs per salon.

---

Chart 4.4: Total anticipated new hires by job category

1%

 

43%

18%

∎ Cosmetologist

•

p Barber/stylist

p Massage therapist

Nail Technician

•

Skin care/Esthetician p Hair Colorist

•

p Electrologist

• Other
Braider

Of the various specialties, the increasing demand for nail technicians appears to be most substantial. While nail technicians currently make up only 9.7 percent of the current industry employees, nearly 18 percent of the job openings are in that area.

Summary

The salon industry continues to offer opportunities to qualified job seekers, both experienced and entry-level. In 2006, the turnover rate for the salon industry, the number of openings divided by the number of employees, was about 36 percent. The typical salon replaced more than one of every three employees during the year. This translated to numerous job opportunities for qualified job seekers. More than one quarter of the 182,331 open positions were filled with inexperienced workers. The data lead us to believe that growth in the industry is constrained by too few new entrants to the profession. Demand for cosmetology services is estimated to expand at least at the same rate as the growth of the population. The increasing number of small, new businesses in the field suggests that there are very real opportunities available for individuals who want to start their own business.

---

Chapter 5 Salary data

	Full service	Specialized
Cosmetologist	35,966	38,843
Barber/stylist	39,669	42,842
Braider	31,020	33,502
Electrologist	37,522	40,524
Hair Colorist	42,965	46,402
Massage therapist	31,239	33,738
Nail Technician	30,693	33,148
Skin care/Esthetician	37,154	40,126
ether	29,791	32,174

Examining salaries by region indicates that the average salary range in the United States is between $30,000 and $48,000. The highest salaries are earned by salon professionals in the North East region, while the North Central region shows the lowest salaries. (Table 5.2).

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Table 5.2; Average salary by region

Region	Salary
North East	48,348
South	37,908
North Central	30,603
West	34,988

Summary

It is not possible to report separately on full-time salaries due to the way in which the dataa were collected. Even with the part-time and low-time employees included, the salaries are competitive. In addition, the industry provides the opportunity to be one's own boss, with strong earning potential.

Conclusions

This survey of employers in the cosmetology field supports the findings from earlier surveys that
official federal reports on employment consistently underestimate the demand in the market.
The industry provides competitive income potential and offers the opportunity to start one's own
business, as well as flexible working hours that allow employees to integrate their work with
other family responsibilities. The evidence suggests that opportunities in the sector will continue
to grow. One step that could ease the ongoing shortage of salon professionals would be to
expand reciprocal licensing among the states. A qualified, licensed cosmetologist or barber in
one state may not be able to work in another state without expensive and time-consuming efforts
to become licensed. This one simple policy change could increase the number of available
cosmetologists in the nation.

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Chapter 6 Methodology

In preparing this report, we relied on two data sources: 1) a database of all 370,215 beauty salons, barber shops, nail care establishments listed in United States Yellow Pages as

compiled by InfoUSA, 2} responses to a national job opportunity survey of beauty salons, barber shops, skin care salons and nail care establishments.

We took a stratified sample by state from the universe of beauty establishments. While the complete list included 370,215 salons, the sample was selected from 291,217 records considered to be most suitable for mailing. Eleven states and the District of Columbia have fewer than 1,500 establishments, so every establishment received the survey. In the four states with more than 15,000 establishments, a random sample of 10 percent received the mailing. Finally, random samples of 1,500 establishments were surveyed in the other 35 states. Prenotification post-cards were sent in January 2007, and sponsorship by NACCAS was clearly indicated.

The surveys were mailed in February 2007. Respondents were asked to send back the completed surveys by March l, 2007. The cover letter included a link to an online version of the survey, available through the NACCAS website. Almost 3 percent of respondents completed the survey online, up from 1 percent for the 2003 survey. All other respondents mailed the survey to NACCAS using the provided self addressed stamped envelope. A total of 1,775 items from the original mailing were returned as undeliverable, and we assume that the Yellow Pages are not completely up-to-date. In addition to having mail returned; this may also have excluded newlyopened salons. A second mailing of approximately 15,000 surveys was sent in April 2007. Recipients were advised via e-mail to fill out the survey.

The survey asked for information about the previous 12 months, and also whether the establishment had plans to hire new staff in the upcoming six months. Useable surveys were received from 6,203 respondents. Sampling weights were computed to reflect the number of establishments within each state. Table 6.1 shows the number of surveys sent to each state, the number of useable respondents and the response rate by state.

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The response rate varied from a low of 3.0 percent ('Washington, DC) to a high of 14.8 percent (South Dakota). Mean response rate was 8.7 percent - a rate comparable to past job demand surveys of the cosmetology industry. The typical response rate for direct mail surveys is 3 percent; l 0 percent is considered excellent (Kisch and Wood, 2001). The correspondence of the current survey results with previous cosmetology job demand surveys and US Department of Labor statistics suggests that the samples are consistent with previous NACCAS surveys.

Response bias is a possibility because large states had a lower response rate than smaller states. Our correction for this is to weight the responses for each state and add them instead of taking the average of the total, which is what has been done in the past. It may also be the case that smaller businesses were more likely to return the survey than larger ones. We have no way to correct for this possibility.

Considering the possible bias and the fact that some employers in the industry are not included in the sample, the results probably underestimate employment in the cosmetology industry. For example, employers whose main business is something other than cosmetology may hire trained professionals such as vendors of cosmetology and make-up products.

---

References

Bureau of Labor Statistics (1998)1998-99 Occupational Outlook Handbook. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. [Available on-line at

httpa/wwvv.bls.govloco/ocos169.htm#source].

 

Census Bureau (1999),1998 County Business Patterns. Washington, DC: US Government
Printing Office. [Available online at hflpj₍`

Info USA, Inc. Business lists and counts [Available online at http:llwww.infousa.com/business

Fox, R. J., Crask, M. R., & Kim, J. (1988). Mail survey rate a meta-analysis of selected techniques for inducing response.

Kirsch, M. and L. Wood (2001). (You Can Get Some) SATISFACTION. DIRECT, Nov. l, 2001. Available online: hit ildirectma".com

Rudner, L.M. and W.V. Deutermann (1991), Job Demand in the Cosmetology Industry, 1990 Rudner, L.M. (1992) Job Demand in the Cosmetology Industry, 1991, Arlington, VA: NACCAS. Rudner, L.M. (1997)

Rudner, L.M. (2000) Job Demand in the Cosmetology Industry, 1999, Arlington, VA: NACCAS. Rudner, L.M. (2003) Job Demand in the Cosmetology Industry, 2003, Arlington, VA; NACCAS.

iwww.CellSUs.gov epcdi`cbp;'vicw!ebpvicw.h1Public Opinion Quarterly, 52: 467-49L/al',-~n1a1'keti n« satisfactioll'indcx.lltm

Rudner, L.M, and W.V. Deutermann (1991), Job Demand in the Cosmetology Industry, 1990, NACCAS. Summarized in S. Brokaw-Guard (ed, 1991) Help Wanted: Cosmetologists, American Salons Green Book 92, Cleveland, 0H: Edgell Communications.

Rudner, L.M. (2000) Characteristics of Salon Chains and Job Demand within Salon Chains. Arlington, VA: NACCAS.

Job Demand in the Cosmetology Industry, 1996, Arlington, VA: NACCAS.

1

i

.S

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Appendix A

Table A-1: Number of salons by region, and percent change, i996-2007
	1996	2000	2003	2007
North East	54,184	57,405	60,543	71,495
CT, DE, ME, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT		5.9%	5.5%	15.3%
South	104,090	108,366	116,663	136,050
AL, AR, DC, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, 0K, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV		4.1%	7.6%	16.6%
North Central IL, IN, ID, IA, KS, MI, MN, M0, NE, ND, 0H,	66,732	65,573	66,732	79,626
SD, WI		-1.7%	1.8%	19.3%
West AK, AR, CA, CO, HI, MT, NV, NM, 0R, UT,	60,173	65,219	69,021	83,044
WA, WY		8.4%	5.8%	20.3%
Nation	285,179	296,563	312,959	370,215

Regional Tables

For purposes of further analysis, the nation was divided into four regions: the Northeast, including 10 states from Maine to Pennsylvania; the South, with 16 states from Maryland to Texas, and the District of Columbia; the North Central, including 12 states from Ohio to Kansas; and the West, with 13 states from Washington to New Mexico. The South is the largest region with 108,366 salons and the North East as the smallest with 57,405 salons. This regional division is consistent with past reports. The margins of error for the regions are larger than found in the national estimates due to the smaller regional sample sizes.

4.0% 5.5% 18.3%

The largest growth since 1996 has been in the West (27.5 percent) and the smallest growth has been in North Central region (16.2 percent).

As was the case in the 2003 report, the North Central region has the highest percentage of full service salons. Specialized salons, such as day spas and skin care salons, continue to be popular in the West, although the North East region now has the highest percentage of day spas,

more than doubling its total from 2003 (2.8 to 5.9 percent). The West region saw a drop from 6.3 to 5.0 percent in this category. The latter change is within error range and may not be statistically significant.

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Table A-2: Salon type by region

		Re ion
	North East	South	North Central	West	Nation
Full service	57.8	57.7	63.4	56.3	58.4
Nail salon	4.1	4.8	3.3	5.1	4.3
Barbershop	5.9	8.2	6.7	8.0	7.3
Day spa salon	5.9	4.2	4.1	5.0	4.6
Haircutting salon	19.6	17.1	14.7	16.8	16.9
Skin care salon	1.2	0.8	0.3	1.7	0.8
Other	5.2	6.6	6.1	6.2	6.6
No response	0.5	1.2	1.5	0.9	1.1
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100

The North East region had the highest number of employer-owned establishments at 76 percent. The West region had the highest number of booth-rental salons, while the combination of the two types was most frequently seen in the South.

Table A-3: Salon operation by region

	North East	South	North Central	West	Nation
Employer-owned	76.2	59.3	70.4	52.1	64.6
Booth rental salon	6.1	15.2	12.0	22.8	14.2
Combination	16.8	24.4	16.4	23.9	20.1
No response	0.9	1.1	1.2	1.3	1.2
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100

The West region had the highest percentage of salons located in both the suburbs and the center of a large city. Salons located in a small town were most frequently in the North Central region, while the North East showed the greatest number of salons in large towns or small cities.

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Table A-4: Salon location by region

	North East	South	North Central	West	Nation
Small town	52.9	50.9	59.5	35.9	50.4
Large town/mid-size city	35.3	30.9	28.0	34.7	31.8
Center of lar e cy	3.0	7.3	4.6	12.0	6.8 _
Suburban area of large city	6.5	8.9	6.3	15.2	9.2
No response	2.3	2.1	1.6	2.3	2.0
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100

In terms of number of chairs, the largest salons were located in the West. This region had the largest percentage of salons with 5 to 9 chairs and 10 chairs or more. The North Central region had the largest number of salons with 4 chairs or fewer; 65 percent of salons in the region fit that description.

Table A-5: Percent of salons by number of chairs or work stations, by region

	Region
	North East	South	North Central	West	Nation
1 chair	21.1	19.9	26.8	19.7	22.3
2 chairs	14.5	15.1	17.6	12.1	15.1
3 chairs	13.3	11.8	12.3	11.2	12.1
4 chairs	12.7	12.1	8.7	9.6	10.5
5-9 chairs	28.8	31.0	25.5	34.1	29.8
10 or more	9.5	10.2	9.1	13.4	10.5
TOTAL	100	100	100	100	100

The North East region has the highest number of both workstations and clients per week, as shown in Table A-6. The West is the lowest in both categories, but also has the secondhighest number of salons. Day spa salons have the highest number of workstations and of clients per week, although these salons represent only 5 percent of the total number of salons nationwide.

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Table A-8: Percent of experienced and entry-level employees by region

 

70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10%

0%

 

• Entry-level
Experienced

Northeast North Central

South

West

Nation

---

13.

Does your establishment currently have enough business to justify hiring more professional staff? If so, how many more staff? Please identify the number by profession.

a.	Cosmetologist	f.	Massage Therapist
b.	Barber/Stylist	g.	Nail Technician/Artist
c.	Braider	h.	Skin Care/Esthetician
d.	Electrologist	i.	Other
e.	Hair Colorist

14, How many of each type of professional worked in your salon in January 2007? Indicate the average salary (without tips) for each category. (Count cutters and perm specialists under cosmetologist).

Number of by average salary	0) C) ° 3 o	0- ~ ' ~ ~'	2 ~ v a	a m - employees ° . ~ __ N	° = :. o	:D H ~ ~ I ° ~,~,	-1(0 3 Z - 5 .	() 3 0) Cl) m ~ N ~.	0 CD
Less than $20, 000
$20,000-$29999 999
$30,000-$39,999
$40,000-$49,999
$50,000-$59,999
$60,000-$69,999
$70,000 and over
TOTAL

15. Do you plan to hire in these categories in the next six months? What is the anticipated starting salary for new hires in these categories?

v

~

0

a

o

H -*

H ~

n?

-.

o o

o0 0)

0o

m CD

=

m ~ 3

~ z

~ cn

~

3

m

a

)

R

cn

m

o

n

ii ~

v .

o

~

o

o

°

(0

N .

.

Number of new employees

Anticipated starting salary

16.

Rate your clientele on how well they tip. check one)

a. b. c.

D Very well D Better than average D Average

d. e.

D Below average D Very poor

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Appendix B
2007 Job Demand Survey

Please enter the zip code in which your salon is located:

1. Which best describes your establishment? (check one)

a. D Full service e. D Haircutting salon

b. D Nail salon f. D Skincare salon

c. D Barber shop g. D Other d. D Day spa salon

2. Is this establishment part of a chain of salons or service facilities?
a. D Yes b. O No

3. How do you define the type of salon you own? (check one)

a. D Employer-owned

b. D Booth rental salon

c, D A combination of booth rental and employer-owned

4. Check the category that best describes the location of your establishment

• Small town or rural area (population less than 25,000)
• Large town/Mid-size city (population between 25,000 and 250,000)
• Center of a large city (population greater than 250,000)
• Suburban area of a large city (population greater than 250,000)

  5. How many clients does your salon serve in a typical week?

  6. How many workstations or service areas did you have in January 2007?

  7. How many professionals, including yourself, worked in the salon in January 2007 for the following lengths of time?

  a. 35 hours or more c. Less than 20 hours b. 20-34 hours

  8. How many professionals joined your salon between January 1 and December 31, 2006?

  a. Experienced, more than one year

  b. Entry level, less than one year

  9. Were you always able to find qualified professionals to employ during 2006? (check one)

  a. D Yes c. D Did not look b. O No

  10. How many professionals, including yourself, working today in your salon, have been with you for each of the following time periods?

  a. Less than 6 months d. Over 3 but less than 10 years

  b. 6 to 18 months e. Over 10 years c. 18 months to 3 years

  11. How many professionals left your salon, for any reason, between January 1 and December 31, 2006?

  12. Please indicate the reason you think they left (count each person once)

  a. Opened their own salon

  b. Went to a booth rental salon

  c. Working at home

  d. Employment in a

  related industry

  e. Employment in unrelated industry

  f. Return to school

  g. Raise a family

  h. Reason unknown

  ---

]

JBL Associates (2006). Comparison of State Licensure Exam Procedures and Pass Rates, Arlington, VA: NACCAS.


°

Survey respondents were asked to provide the number of employees by job category and salary range. In order to determine an average salary, both nationally and by state, the number of employees in each category was multiplied by the midpoint of the listed salary range. Because the survey did not specifically request salaries only for full-time employees, all data for the salary category $20,000 or less per year was removed from the calculation. For those listed at $70,000 or more per year, $75,000 was used. Please refer to Appendix B to see the 2007 Job Demand Survey. The question referred to here is Question 14.

Table 5.1 shows the national average salary for each job category listed on the survey. The category of "other" has the lowest salary at $24,825, while hair colorists have the highest salary. It is possible that this number is somewhat inflated due to the small number of respondents with this classification.

Table 5.1 Average salary by job category (exclusive of tips)

 

 

	Full service	Specialized	No data	Nation
Less than 6 months	9.8%	11.7%	4.7%	8.7%
6 to 18 months	13.9%	18.4%	7.8%	13.4%
18 months to 3 years	18.6%	20,8%	13.3%	17.6%
3 to 10 years	29.6%	28,4%	28.9°fo	29.0%
More than 10 years	28.1%	20.7%	45.3%	31.4%

• Full service

Chart 3.6: Percent of employees in full service and specialized salons by job category.