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."
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American NailTech|1.25.10 @ 9:08PM|#
I am an "Old School" american Nail Tech. I use to cater to the wealthy back in the early 90's. Most techs were American and nail services were very pampering and expensive. With the boom of the Vietnamese Nail Techs in the mid 90's on the east coast, proper technique got lost because of the cheaper price. I saw thousands of American Nail Techs switch careers I saw hundreds of American Nail Salons & Supply stores go out of business. American manufacturers for products and equipment are almost no more, Vietnam & China make most nail supplies and equipment now. BILLIONS of dollars are being sent to Vietnam from under the table Nail Service money done in America. Techs are mostly unlicensed using a friend or family member's license in another state, moving around to other nail salons before being caught. Many Techs are indentured servants for a year to get a 10x value of a yearly salary in Vietnam to work hard for a better life in Vietnam when the year is up. Billions in taxes are not paid as you can see by employee turnover & the trading of business owners before they are caught. Some stay, become US citizens, pay taxes, have families and become Americans. But Most are not. This is the economic issue, why are we not regulating this to ensure the money stays in the US. Not make Vietnam the fastest growing economy in the past decade. I wonder why. Wow how much money I could save if I didn't have to pay employment tax in my salon. Wow how much money I could save if I paid an immigrant to work 60 hours a week by giving her family in Vietnam $10K a yaer and pay her way to come and live in the US. I could also reuse products and avoid paying for disinfecting products. Hey I think I could even knock my prices in half!
TerryD|1.26.10 @ 7:44AM|#
There is a nail shop on every corner in the US, even in the middle of nowhere. So if you think about it almost every person in America is contributing to the Vietnamese Economy.
nfl jerseys|11.16.10 @ 12:33AM|#
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