Welcome to the global, multi-billion dollar beauty industry! Years before choosing to become beauty professionals, you and I started to contribute to this industry and continue to the present day with every dollar we spend on consumer beauty products. The primary focus of the beauty industry has always been on consumers, not on pros. The three largest brands, L’Oreal, Unilever and Estee Lauder, dominate by manufacturing and distributing retail products, particularly in the categories of haircare, skincare and makeup. In contrast, “professional-only” products and service sales (revenue generated by performing services) represent a relatively small portion of the overall market.
The beauty industry analyzed and discussed by economists, investors, journalists and CEOs has almost nothing to do with our work as licensed beauty pros.
Why does this matter? Because our career options fall into two distinct categories: performing services on clients and everything else. That’s no arbitrary distinction when state governments require training and licensure to perform services for compensation, and also enforce health and safety regulations.
Despite shared designation as licensees, we diverge in the use of our licensure according to employment classification, workplace environment (salon suite, full-service salon, spa, mobile, session, etc.), services offered, client demographics (gender, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, etc.) and other factors, many of which we cannot qualify or quantify for lack of data.
“The kind of job where you have to hustle and hustle and where you’re not sure whether you will have enough clients next month, where you have less job security, is becoming much more common.” – Erik Brynjolfsson
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) documents different occupations based on workers (employees only) and produces the Occupational Outlook Handbook where the most interesting statistics focus on wages and projected openings:
2024 Median Pay: “The wage at which half of the workers in the occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. Median wage data are from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.” The median annual wage for all workers was $49,500.
Job Outlook, 2024-34: “The projected percent change in employment” from 2024 to 2034. The average growth rate for all occupations is only 3 percent.
When reviewing median pay and job outlook, keep in mind that BLS data represents employees, not the self-employed.
Barbers, Hairstylists and Cosmetologists
$35,420 per year/$17.03 per hour
5% (Much faster than average)
Skincare Specialists
$41,560 per year/$19.98 per hour
7% (Much faster than average)
Manicurists and Pedicurists
$34,660 per year/$16.66 per hour
7% (Much faster than average)
For comparison, the largest occupation in the country, Retail Sales Workers, has more than 4.2 million workers, no formal education requirements, comparable pay ($34,730 per year/$16.70 per hour), but much lower job outlook (0%).
Want more career options? Consider the numerous occupations within the beauty industry that fall into the category of “everything else,” from entry-level positions to those requiring advanced degrees. The BLS has a handy Occupation Finder to narrow your search by level of education, median pay and other factors.
An earlier version was published by Beauty Cast Network.