Gluing miniature gems onto glittery nails. Swirling designs onto the tips of a French manicure.
Manicurists have to stay on top of trends with the same attentiveness they give their clients’ cuticles — all the while breathing in fumes from solvents and glues.
“When I opened acetone bottles to remove customers’ nail polish, the smell would make my eyes and nose water — just like allergies,” said Trish Nguyen, who used to work at a salon in Westminster.
But for all the demands of the job, the nail salon workforce — mostly comprised of Vietnamese immigrant women — has some of the worst paid workers in California. That’s according to a report on the state’s nail salon industry released Tuesday by the UCLA Labor Center in partnership with the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative.
Researchers, using U.S. Census Bureau data, estimate that the hourly median wage for nail salon workers in 2021 was $10.94 — below the then- $13/hr minimum wage for small businesses.
The findings underscore just how undervalued workers in the industry are, said co-author Preeti Sharma, a professor at Cal State Long Beach who worked with UCLA on the report.
“Customers certainly come for the manicures or the pretty designs, but they also come to feel like they belong in a community,” Sharma said. “However, we don't value [the industry] enough in terms of wages or the kind of benefits that would allow salon workers to make ends meet.”
No. of nail salons: 6,147. Two-thirds have 5 or fewer employees
No. of manicurists: 127,480 manicurists
Background of manicurists: 85% female, 84% Asian, 81% immigrant
Most common country of origin: 82% born in Vietnam
Older workforce: largest concentration of workers are 45-60 years old
Source: UCLA Labor Center and the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative
While there is dispute over how much workers are actually making, advocates and industry leaders alike say employers are misclassifying thousands of manicurists as independent contractors despite them being part of day-to-day salon operations where they are wearing uniforms and using salon supplies.
Instead of giving these workers hourly wages, employers are paying them by the manicure, with 60% going to the worker and 40% to the salon. Researchers estimate a third of workers are compensated this way.
For manicurists with booked calendars, the pay structure may be advantageous. But for workers at salons that aren't as busy, their hourly pay could work out to less than minimum wage.
Over the years, workers’ complaints about losing out on fair pay have stacked up, said Lisa Fu, executive director of the nail salon collaborative. Originally founded to reduce chemical use in the industry, it also prioritizes labor issues now.
“[Workers] would say things like, ’Oh, I would be really happy and fortunate to get something anywhere close to minimum wage, but don't tell the owner I said that to you,’” Fu said.
Legislation inspired by the report's findings would require in-language, culturally-appropriate training for those working in the nail salon industry on labor issues such as misclassification.
As for getting to the root of pay issues? Among the solutions suggested are raising prices for customers, or getting salon owners to share more of the profits with their workers.
Mike Vo, a board member of the leading industry group in California, Pro Nails Association in Huntington Beach, acknowledged that some independent contractors have at times made less than minimum wage.
“They put in their 'X' number of hours in the salon and they're only seeing three to four clients a day,” said Vo, putting the range for basic manicures between $25 to $35.
But Vo, a lawyer who represents nail salon owners, said the data used in the report may not provide the fullest picture because independent contractors who are making well above minimum wage may not be sharing their actual income given the legal implications.
Vo said based on his experience most nail salon workers would not be considered low-wage — meaning they earn less than two-thirds of the state median wage, which in 2021 was about $17 an hour. That runs counter to the report’s finding that 80% of nail technicians are considered low-wage workers, compared to a third of all California workers in that category.
Where Vo is in agreement with the workers’ advocates is this: nail salons need to treat workers as hourly employees, entitled to overtime and rest and lunch breaks. He hosts seminars urging employers to switch from the 60/40 pay structure to a W-2 employee payroll — not just for the sake of the worker but for themselves.
Former workers who feel they have not been properly compensated are increasingly filing lawsuits or lodging complaints with the Department of Labor and the state’s unemployment agency, Vo said.
“My effort is in trying to educate the industry — I know it's not going to happen overnight – to get people to come around to understanding that you got to make the changes,” Vo said. “It’s going to be more costly to correct what they could have avoided in the first place.”
Vo said the 60/40 pay structure dates back decades. That's when Vietnamese refugees entered the nail salon industry en masse after the fall of Saigon in 1975.
Eager to find work in their new country, and famously assisted by Hollywood booster Tippi Hedren of Psycho fame, Vietnamese immigrant women carved out a niche providing affordable manicures and nail art.
Trish Nguyen, a former manicurist who now works for the collaborative, said that nail work offers a low barrier to entry for non-English speakers and the comfort of working with other Vietnamese immigrants.
“This industry really helps our Vietnamese community because regardless if you know English, you're able to use your skills in order to do a good job,” Nguyen said.
Joanne Nguyen, a manicurist employed at a Whittier salon who volunteers with the collaborative, said the job offers the flexible hours she needs as a single mother of two.
And also importantly, “I’m really able to express my creativity, and do very precise nail drawings of flowers and 3-D art,” Joanne Nguyen said. “It’s just more fun to be in this field.”
The industry is so dominated by Vietnamese Americans that when a crisis like the pandemic hits and forced the shutdown of salons, it was felt deeply community-wide, as many have friends and family who are manicurists.
Vietnamese American leaders in the industry were among the most passionate voices challenging Gov. Gavin Newsom's claim, one that he did not substantiate, that the first community spread of Covid-19 started at a nail salon.
Several years later, some salons have not entirely rebounded. Some manicurists have reported to the collaborative that they've been making less money since the pandemic, noting that customers are not returning for services at the same frequency they did before.
There are other drawbacks, like the physically-taxing work and constant exposure to nail products, which can cause headaches and skin problems. Some products contain chemicals that have been linked to cancer and reproductive issues.
Trish Nguyen said the onus is on employers to improve working conditions by, for example, installing ventilators. She said she closed her own shop after five years and went back to working as a manicurist for someone else because she didn’t have the resources to buy a ventilator or higher-quality products.
“I couldn't justify having a store if I couldn't provide this,” she said.
At 53, Joanne Nguyen says she isn't holding out for major improvements to workplace conditions before she retires. But she is calling on nail salon operators, especially the ones with larger successful shops, to treat workers as employees deserving of paid sick time and vacation days.
"What I want to change for the future is for the younger generation of nail salon workers to have more benefits," Nguyen said.
The vast majority of nail salons are mom-and-pops with five or fewer employees, where the employer often files nails alongside the workers.
Lucero Herrera, one of the UCLA analysts behind the nail industry report, said slowed customer traffic since the pandemic may have affected some owners' ability to cover both business expenses and workplace improvements, such as increasing manicurist pay.
“How can we think of innovative solutions and labor practices that can really uplift both workers and owners?” Herrera said.
One idea is to raise prices at nail salons. Herrera said that consumers surveyed for their report were generally open to paying more for nail services if the money went toward improving labor conditions. The median amount that those surveyed said they’d be willing to pay was an extra $10 per visit.
Another option for employers is to accept a smaller cut of salon profits so workers can be paid more, said Mike Vo of the nail salon trade group.
“If you're taking care of your workers, and they're being paid properly, the higher the likelihood they'll stick around, which is what many salon owners want,” Vo said.
In the meantime, efforts are underway to ensure that salon owners and workers are educated on labor issues, particularly the misclassification of employees as independent contractors.
A bill introduced this year by Assemblymember Alex Lee, a San Jose Democrat, would require owners and workers take in-language trainings on labor laws. That includes AB 5 passed in 2019 which clearly delineates when a worker must be categorized as an employee.
Fu, of the nail salon collaborative, said the state must get creative reaching out to Vietnamese-speaking salon workers. She suggested that videos on YouTube and Facebook, two of the most popular online platforms in the Vietnamese community, could have great reach.
Her hope is that as more workers familiarize themselves with the law, they'll be able to better advocate for themselves.
"They're trained professionals and so they should be treated like trained professionals, which includes being paid fairly," Fu said.
