Sign up for our daily briefing
Make your busy days simpler with Axios AM/PM. Catch up on what's new and why it matters in just 5 minutes.
Stay on top of the latest market trends
Subscribe to Axios Markets for the latest market trends and economic insights. Sign up for free.
Sports news worthy of your time
Binge on the stats and stories that drive the sports world with Axios Sports. Sign up for free.
Tech news worthy of your time
Get our smart take on technology from the Valley and D.C. with Axios Login. Sign up for free.
Get the inside stories
Get an insider's guide to the new White House with Axios Sneak Peek. Sign up for free.
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Want a daily digest of the top Denver news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver
Want a daily digest of the top Des Moines news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines
Want a daily digest of the top Twin Cities news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Twin Cities
Want a daily digest of the top Tampa Bay news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa Bay
Want a daily digest of the top Charlotte news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Charlotte
A salon in New York. Photo: Michael Nagle/Getty
As entire blocks worth of stores fall to behemoths like Walmart and Amazon, a surprising source of jobs has been the salon industry — a retail stronghold thriving because it provides services that can't move online.
What's happening: The occupations of nail technician and hair stylist are commanding an increasingly large share of retail jobs, and economists are sounding the alarm, saying these are among the least stable and lowest-paying jobs in the country.
New data, provided exclusively to Axios by the online job site ZipRecruiter, shows that postings for salon jobs skyrocketed between 2017 and 2018.
- Openings in nail care jumped 186%; hair care, 103%; salon and spa, 150%.
But, but, but: Wages for these jobs have remained flat, despite the boom, says Saba Waheed, research director at the UCLA Labor Center.
- A recent study by the center found that 78% of nail salon workers earn less than $12.39 an hour — two-thirds of the national median wage in the middle of last year.
- 30% of nail technicians are self-employed and working without any benefits or labor protections. That's triple the average share of self-employed workers in other U.S. industries.
- Nail salon workers are also predominantly women (81%) and foreign born (79%).
"It’s an industry of low cost services and low wage workers. But if this is a sector that continues to grow, we have to ask ourselves, 'Are we paying too little for the cost of getting our nails done?'"— Saba Waheed