PULSE POINTS
BY JOSH CORMAN
Massage Therapy by the Numbers
MORE THAN 80 PERCENT ( 82 percent , to be exact ) of respondents to a recent ISPA Snapshot Survey reported that filling massage therapist positions was either more difficult or significantly more difficult than prior to the pandemic . Spa leaders are also finding that nail technician and esthetician positions are increasingly difficult to fill as well , but massage therapists continue to be the proverbial Holy Grail of service providers . A wide range of factors has been cited as the cause of this dearth of qualified massage therapist applicants , from simple burnout to pandemic-related hesitancy to the financial flexibility provided by expanded unemployment benefits . Though each of these may play a role in the current massage therapist shortage , research from the American Massage Therapy Association ( AMTA ) suggests that the issue may be slightly more complex .
Understanding the Shortage
Though more than half of consumers ( 58 percent ) get massages in spas or salons , only 20 percent of massage
“ Though more than half of consumers ( 58 percent ) get massages in spas or salons , only 20 percent of massage therapists work in those settings .”
46 PULSE � OCTOBER 2021