Pulse PoInts
by erIC Callaghan
LABOR AT LAST:
Employment Numbers are Finally Looking Up
the sPa industrY's ongoing labor shortage
has been the dominant story to emerge from recent iSPa
research. in the 2018 iSPa U.S. Spa industry Study
compensation Supplement, it was reported that the
number of unfilled service provider positions in the spa
industry was estimated at 35,480.
the 2019 iSPa U.S. Spa industry Study compensation
Supplement did show that that number is decreasing;
however, the number of unfilled service provider
positions is still estimated at 28,420. While this remains a
large figure, it shows that the industry is moving in a
positive direction in terms of filling vacant positions.
this trend continues in the 2019 U.S. Spa industry
Study when it comes to industry-wide employment
numbers. total employees rose from 372,100 to 377,900
emPloyment numbers
total emPloyees
2019 (mAy)
total emPloyees
2018 (mAy)
377,900
372,100
uP 1.6%
uP 0.6%
173,900
170,900
uP 2.6%
178,500
172,000
uP 0.4%
27,400
27,300
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tIme
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ContraCt
full
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novEmbEr/dEcEmbEr 2019
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when comparing the figures in the 2018 report to this
year’s data—an increase of 1.6 percent.
full-time employees remained mostly the same:
170,900 in 2018 compared to 172,000 in 2019 (an increase
of 0.6 percent), though part-time employees increased
2.6 percent from 173,900 to 178,500. these figures
show that the spa industry is employing more people
than ever, though there is still plenty of room for
improvement.
one major sign that employment figures will continue
to show improvement is the record growth reached in the
other Big five statistical categories aside from staffing
levels: total revenues, spa visits, average revenue per
visit, the number of spa locations.
When asked about their recent experience in the six
months prior to the survey (September 2018 to march
2019), over 70 percent of spa respondents said spending
per visit and total revenue had increased compared to the
same period in the previous year. on top of this, only 12
percent said that spa visits had decreased in the six-
month period prior to march 2019. With spa visits
remaining mostly unchanged or increasing, and average
spend per visit on the rise, this may mean good news for
employees in the spa world looking ahead.
as noted previously, employment figures are already
showing signs of improvement, with one in four spas (25
percent) saying they had increased staffing levels in the
last six months compared to the same period in the
previous year. Decreasing staffing levels were reported
by just 10 percent of spas, with the majority (65 percent)
saying that their staffing levels had remained unchanged
in the six months before march 2019 compared to the
same period in the previous year. the 2019 iSPa U.S. Spa
industry Study and compensation Supplement both
indicate that while there is still work to do, employment
figures in the industry are showing signs of improving in
the near future. n