Research
Attitudes and Perceptions of Beauty and Wellness Careers
AACS Commissions National Survey
The survey was commissioned to learn more about the attitudes and perceptions various audiences have regarding careers in beauty and wellness. Respondents included career investigators, identified as young women between the ages of 16 and 34 who reported speaking with someone about careers in the past 12 months; career influencers including parents and guidance counselors; and individuals who had trained or worked in the beauty and wellness industry. Additionally, the survey captured perceptions regarding other career paths including health care, information technology, graphic design and culinary arts. The online survey was conducted in September and October of 2009 by Decision Analyst, Inc., a leader in consumer market research.
Key Findings – Interest/Support for Beauty and Wellness Careers
The survey asked career investigators to indicate their level of interest in various careers. Forty-one percent of investigators reported having some interest in a beauty and wellness career. Among those expressing interest, 5 percent were extremely interested in a beauty and wellness career, 17 percent were moderately interested and 19 percent were slightly interested. However, investigators between the ages of 25 to 34 had a stronger interest in beauty and wellness than younger respondents. More than 75 percent of respondents between 25 and 34 also indicated that they had investigated or taken steps to upgrade their job skills in the past year. “The findings indicate that cosmetology schools may want to target some of their recruiting efforts specifically towards career changers,” noted Jim Cox, executive director of AACS.
Among those that influence young women’s career decisions, respondents were generally supportive of beauty and wellness careers. Ninety-four percent of influencers indicated some level of support for beauty and wellness careers, and 62 percent of respondents were “extremely” or “moderately” supportive of a young person’s choice to pursue a career in beauty and wellness.
What Draws People to Beauty and Wellness Careers?
Respondents who expressed interest in a beauty and wellness career valued the career path for its entrepreneurial qualities, the creative expression opportunities it presents, as well as the opportunity it provides to help others. Supportive influencers also noted that there will always be a need for beauty and wellness professionals.
The survey asked individuals who were not interested in or supportive of beauty and wellness careers to share their concerns. Among investigators, the most common reason cited was that the respondent was simply not interested in beauty. However, other concerns included income potential, health/retirement benefits and the availability of jobs.
Although generally supportive of careers in beauty and wellness, influencers including parents and guidance counselors, expressed a strong desire for information and data to support beauty and wellness as a career choice. Additionally, these individuals tended to be more concerned about the amount of time and cost of entry required for various career paths. “The survey revealed that influencers are considering the return on investment careers in beauty and wellness provide,” noted Jim Cox, adding that member schools can use the short time to licensure as strength when prospective students are comparing various careers.
How Does Beauty and Wellness Compare to Other Career Paths?
When investigators and influencers were asked to rate various career fields, beauty and wellness performed competitively with careers in information technology, graphic design and culinary arts, but significantly lower than health care. Beauty and wellness careers’ perceived strengths compared to other fields surveyed included creativity, flexible scheduling, working with others and entrepreneurship. Perceived weaknesses included income potential, health insurance and retirement benefits. “Factors where beauty scored particularly well, such as creative expression indicate that cosmetology may be a draw for students considering other career paths such as graphic design,” said Jim Cox.
The survey also asked respondents to indicate how “believable” they found several statements regarding careers in beauty and wellness. Statements focused on income potential, job availability, entrepreneurial opportunities and skills that last a lifetime, among others. After indicating how strongly they believed each statement, respondents were provided with claim statements supporting careers in beauty. Among both investigators and influencers, the claim statements had a positive impact on respondents’ perceptions, particularly among the influencers. “The survey findings indicate that people can begin to change their perceptions about careers in beauty and wellness, but that it’s important to provide them with facts,” said Lynelle Lynch, president of Bellus Academy and a director with AACS.
Perspective from Industry Veterans
As a supplement to the investigator and influencer research, AACS also asked individuals who had trained or worked in the beauty and wellness industry to share their perceptions about beauty and wellness careers. Beauty veterans tended to have some of the same concerns typically expressed by other independent contractors and entrepreneurs with regards to health and retirement benefits. However, they also valued the field for its opportunity to help others, be creative and the entrepreneurial opportunities it provides. Continuing education was important to beauty veterans. More than one-third of beauty veteran respondents – 36 percent – indicated that they had taken an advanced beauty school program, and 62 percent indicated they had some level of interest in advanced training for beauty and wellness professionals.
Some Conclusions
While beauty and wellness is not the leading career choice for investigators, it is perceived as a strong career path for individuals interested in helping and working with others, being creative and having an entrepreneurial drive. Despite the positive attributes associated with careers in beauty, the field is perceived as having some areas of deficiency, primarily related to predictable income and security.
Research indicates that it is possible to improve attitudes toward careers in beauty and wellness by exposing individuals to facts regarding career benefits. Cosmetology schools, salons and businesses vested in the beauty and wellness industry have an opportunity to educate prospective students and the public in general about the rewards and opportunities careers in beauty represent. “Our industry’s potential has been a secret for too long. We’re excited to be engaging in initiatives that will position beauty as a premier career of choice,” said Lynelle Lynch.
The 2009 Study of Attitudes toward Beauty & Wellness Careers used a U.S.-Canada sample of respondents, made up of 203 Career Investigators (women ages 16 to 34) and 211 Career Influencers (parents, counselors, and mentors, ages 25 to 64). More than 3,500 individuals were screened to ensure a balanced, representative final sample. Findings based on the total sample of 414 are subject to a +/- 4.9% or less margin of error, at a 95% confidence interval.
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The demand for cosmetologists:
from the NACCAS 2007 Job Demand Survey
In January 2007, there were 1,682,641 professionals employed in the nation’s 370,215 beauty salons, barber shops, skin care salons and nail salons. The typical salon is a small full service salon with 5 stations, 3 full-time professionals and 2 part-time professionals. Salon owners report an average of 127 clients per week.
The salon industry is a job-seekers market. "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."
"Even with significant levels of hiring, nearly three-quarters of the salons that tried to fill positions were not able to find qualified applicants. The supply of skilled professionals in the industry continues to fall short of the demand. This is a chronic shortage that has been reported in earlier surveys of the cosmetology industry."
"The cosmetology industry employs individuals in every town and city in the country. No community exists without barbershops and hair salons. They range from single chair operations to large salons with dozens of workstations."
"The universe probably underestimates employment in the industry. Unincorporated individuals who may work out of their home are not included, nor are organizations that might provide personal care services, but are in a business that is unrelated to the personal care industry. Examples include department stores, cruise ships or resorts, and retirement communities."
"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."
"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."
"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."
Other key findings:
• 56% of salon employees work full-time, 31% part-time (20-35 hours) and 13% work less than 20 hours.
• The average salary, NOT including tips, is about $30,000 to $48,000 per year.
Statistics and quotes from the NACCAS 2007 Job Demand Survey.
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Additional information on research related to the field of cosmetology and the many opportunities available in this growing field:
Benchmarking Study: Full Report - pdf
Benchmarking Study: Summary - pdf
Benchmarking Study 06 Update - pdf
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