The Nail File

The economic meaning of manicures

Virginia Postrel from the October 1997 issue

(Page 2 of 2)

Nail salons create hundred of thousands of fairly pleasant jobs at decent wages--including tips, the average nail tech makes around $475 for a 35-hour week--without requiring lots of education or "knowledge worker" skills. Their suppliers are innovation-driven, competing fiercely to develop better, cheaper products. They even use high-tech materials. Yet when economists, politicians, or commentators get together to spout off on the economy or the future of work, no one ever talks about nail salons--or anything else like them. This is not a random distortion. It, too, has a lot to teach about both economic trends and economic discourse.

Nail salons are girl stuff. Most of the people who work in them are women, as are almost all their customers. Though women make up 45 percent of the labor force, our political discussions do not consider feminine occupations--however pleasant, well paid, or open to minimally educated people--viable alternatives to factory work. These assumptions aren't conscious or malicious; they are simply the result of distorted mental pictures.

But even female policy wonks who get their nails done every week would never think of talking about nail salons--or the multibillion-dollar beauty industry--in public. Such businesses are too embarrassing to mention. This error is far more pernicious: If we ignore all the businesses that provide beauty, entertainment, or other "nonessential," nonmaterial goods, we will miss the future of the economy. Serious discussions of economic trends are no place for fun-hating, beauty-scorning Puritans. When Jeremy Rifkin concludes The End of Work by calling for punitive taxes on the booming entertainment business, he looks ridiculous. Having discovered a frivolous industry that is actually creating a lot of jobs, he demands that we crush it. He isn't interested in jobs; he's just intolerant of change. And he confuses his personal tastes with economic reality.

Human beings of all incomes and levels of technology crave beauty and diversion. But as people get richer, they can afford to spend more on such luxuries. By historical standards, Americans are very rich. It's not surprising, then, to find smart entrepreneurs creating economic value, and lots of new jobs, by catering to our happiness as well as our physical needs. To find them, however, you have to look. Try the Yellow Pages, under "manicures."