Macau’s Hairdressing Sector Verification Committee (澳門髮型業界認證委員會) said during a press conference at Stage in Rua do Campo yesterday that according to its survey 85 percent of hairdressers say that in the past three years their income has been decreasing.
Stage is an activity centre run by the Macau Federation of Trade Unions (Gung Luen).
A committee representative said that the committee conducted the survey in May and had interviewed 254 respondents, noting that Macau has around 500 hair salons and about 1,200 people working in the sector. The finding shows that a quarter of the shops offer new elements such as “quick cuts” or “hair nourishing services”, and that 40 percent of locals decide to get their hair done in the mainland. According to the findings, over 80 percent of the local hairdressers thought that the new elements and “over-hiring” of non-residents workers in hair salons had caused unhealthy competition.
The findings also showed that 80 percent of the hair salon operators cannot find local staff so that the sector is lacking local hairdressers. The committee representative urged the government to optimise the recruitment system for hairdressers and regulate the proportion of local and non-local hairdressers in each hair salon. The representative also suggested that the government impose a regulation according to which hair salon assistants cannot work as a hairdresser in order to create a fair competition environment and help the sector develop healthily.
Most of the respondents are aged between 55 and 64, while hairdressers aged between 25 and 34 only account for 12.6 percent. The committee said that due to the lack of verification and certification of hairdressing skills, the younger generation is indifferent to the profession. Therefore, the representative urged the government to officially recognise professional hairdressers.
The findings also showed that around 50 percent of the respondents hoped that the committee could launch certified training programmes. Therefore, the committee representative also urged the government to offer certified programmes.
Macau Hairdressing Sector Verification Committee representatives address yesterday’s press conference at Stage in Rua do Campo. Photo of courtesy of TDM
