Hairdressers wanted: Why there are no young professionals

2024-02-12 23:00:00

“A skilled hairdresser earns up to 3,500 euros gross.”

Wolfgang Eder

Guild Master

Poor pay is also at the top of the image problem. According to the collective income, a hairdresser earns 1,800 euros gross in her first year of work. “We are aware that a minimum wage of 2,000 euros would be necessary,” says Eder. However, this would be offset by the increased costs of the companies, which are of course passed on to the customers. In practice, skilled hairdressers who build up their own customer base can earn up to 3,500 euros gross with sales shares, bonuses and fixed overpayments. Wages have been increased significantly over the past ten or 15 years – individual chains like Klipp pay 20 percent more on their own initiative – and new specializations in make-up, hairstyling, cosmetics and foot care have been incorporated into the job description.

Most hairdressing businesses are constantly looking for staff.

Claudia Šimić used to run her Cut & More salon in Elsbethen with six employees, now there are three. It is the usual life paths that lead women to leave their chosen profession. “One has retired, one has had a baby, one is at home due to motherly duties,” says the boss, who herself worked for 21 years in the hairdressing division of a large drugstore chain before setting up her own business. The training for apprentice Cemre Uslu, 17, is supported by the AMS. Šimić is also looking on social media – where “nothing is happening either”. Last year she reduced her shop in a former bank from 180 square meters to half and set up an apartment next to the salon. “Luckily the business is mine.” On Saturday it doesn’t close its doors at all, but on Monday it opens half the day. Like many self-employed people, Šimić is observing a changing attitude towards paid work. “Many young people don’t want to work so much anymore. They say 40 hours is far too much for me. I have applications from the AMS, where I had to write to the applicants so that they would even come to introduce themselves. Many said they just wanted to the stamp for the AMS so that they can receive unemployment benefit,” says Claudia Šimic.

Apprenticeship training: “It is becoming increasingly difficult to train”

World hairdresser Mario Krankl in Salzburg’s Judengasse currently has eight employees. The staff shortage has become increasingly acute in recent years, says boss Barbara Krankl. “In the past, women became hairdressers or saleswomen. There was no problem with recruiting young people. The current generation is much more flexible. The boys go to school longer, often leave the job very quickly and do something else after a few years.” The hairdressing profession still has the same image as it did 20 or 30 years ago, although a lot has changed for the better: “Today, hairdressers are all involved in sales. Anyone who is good and has their regular customers earns good money.” However, many companies no longer bother with apprenticeship training. “It’s becoming more and more difficult to train. I can’t tell you how many apprentices I’ve seen come and go.” Every apprenticeship break is also a break in a relationship and a human disappointment, says Krankl.

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