Key Findings:

In January 2003, there were 1,604,502 professionals employed in the nation’s 312,959 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 155 clients per week.

There has been notable growth in the industry since 1999:

• The total number of salon professionals is up by 24%,
• The total number of salons is up by 5.6%
• The total number of charis of workstations is up by 9%,
• The number of employees leaving their positions is down by 12%, and
• The number of new hires is up 37% since 1999

The salon industry is a job-seekers market. Some 56% of the salon owners reporting theat they had job openings. More than 572,000 open positions were filled in 2002 with both experienced salon professionals changing positions (73% of the new hires) and with inexperienced professionals with less than one year’s experience (27% of the new hires). The supply does not appear to be keeping up with demand. Approximately 3 out of every 4 salon owners who looked for new employees in 2002 reported difficulty in finding qualified personnel.

Other key findings:

• 59% of salon owners classified their salons as a full-service salon, 18% as a haircutting salon, 4% as a nail salon and 5% as a barber shop.
• 57% of salon employees work full-time, 33% are part-time (20-30 hours), and 10% are low-time (less than 20 hours),
• The average salon income, including tips, is about $30,000-50,000 per year.
• While manicurists are currently only 10% of the current industry employees (up from 2.6% in 1999), some 16% of the anticipated vacancies, are for professionals with those skills.

For a more local approach read this similar article with information covering the state of Illinois only.