Detlev Beier has been searching since the beginning of March. The master hairdresser has already spent more than 4,000 euros on advertisements on the Internet in order to find new staff for his salon, on social networks such as Facebook or Instagram, on specialist portals in his industry – without success. Nothing moved for months. Now at least one trained hairdresser has reported. But Beier is actually looking for three new full-time employees. “Again, I can’t spend that much money on job searches,” he says.
Beier, 50, has been a hairdresser for 28 years. More than four years ago he started his own business in Schondorf am Ammersee. But he has never experienced that before: “The staff shortage in our branch has never been so severe.” He currently only has two part-time employees, although he has enlarged the salon from four to ten operator positions. That is why Beier usually has to work six days a week, from nine in the morning to six in the evening. “Wanted,” he says, “is everywhere. If you can do a little something, you can immediately get a job as a hairdresser in any German city.”
People who make other people’s hair beautiful have become rare in Germany. The Federal Employment Agency (BA) has been showing a “skilled worker bottleneck” for masters since December 2016. In the case of skilled workers, there are also some arguments in favor of a so-called bottleneck occupation, such as the increased vacancy time, i.e. the number of days until when a vacancy has been filled, according to the Nuremberg authorities. It looks better on the training market. According to the BA, it cannot be seen “that interest in the job is decreasing”. In July 2021, there were more than 200 unsupported applicants for every 100 vacant company training positions in the “body care” occupational group (almost only hairdressers). “The hairdressing profession is still among the top 10 among young women,” says a spokeswoman for the federal agency. As in many other industries, however, the number of training contracts in the hairdressing trade fell significantly in the past year due to corona. “In the hairdressing trade in particular, professional orientation, for example through internships, was hardly possible due to the lockdowns, and the selection processes in the companies were very limited,” reports the BA.
So what’s the problem? Washing and cutting hair, coloring hair or applying a perm – why aren’t there enough specialists?
Nine euros for a men’s haircut – is not possible, says the salon owner
Herbert Gassert, 75, Vice President of the Central Association of the German Hairdressing Trade, has been hairdressing for 60 years. He says: “There are far too few training companies.” Gassert estimates that out of ten companies “maybe one will train”. For many salon owners this is too difficult. They are worried that investing in the next generation will not be worthwhile “because they will go away later”. Employees would not come back after pregnancies. Young people would rather go to school or university longer than take up a job that also includes work on Saturdays. Salon owner Beier does not train either. “I don’t have time for that,” he says.
At the same time, however, the need has increased. There were 63,000 hairdressing salons in Germany at the turn of the millennium. Now there are more than 80,000, including many mini-businesses with an annual turnover of less than 22,000 euros – but it is an open secret that not a few of these salons take significantly more in black. These providers intensify the already tough price war in the industry because they do not have to charge VAT of up to 19 percent for their services – and annoy salon owners like Detlev Baier.
“Such low-cost providers charge nine euros for a man’s haircut in the big city, for example. If they work quickly, that is not even 30 euros an hour. Nobody can tell me that they pay the industry’s minimum wage and taxes to the employers’ liability insurance association, or that they do Adhere to legal hygiene regulations as meticulously as we do, “he says and adds:” I pay really well, well above the tariff. But I can’t pay an hourly wage of 30 to 40 euros either. That doesn’t pay off for me. “
“It’s hard physical work. It’s exhausting”
The hairdressing trade is still one of the worst paid professions in Germany. According to the tariff archive of the Institute for Economic and Social Sciences (WSI), the lowest training allowances paid, for example 575 euros in North Rhine-Westphalia. That is just above the legal minimum of 550 euros per month. Employed hairdressers often do not earn much more than the statutory minimum wage of EUR 9.60 per hour plus tip. However, Beier does not only attribute the lack of so many skilled workers in his branch to the not exactly lavish pay. “Many no longer feel like doing a trade. Being a hairdresser is hard physical work. It’s exhausting.”
The salon owner sees it as becoming a hairdresser: “You become passionate about it. You have it or you don’t.” Beier is confident that the young woman who contacted him in late summer has enough passion. She is now allowed to work with him on a probationary basis. “I hope this will be fine,” he says. Nevertheless, he will continue to look for staff – and wait.