The statistics on massage therapy jobs always seem to be made out to be better than it seems. The latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics say that they expect an increase in the demand for massage jobs until 2016 because of more people becoming aware of the health benefits of massage.
I am not sure how they come up with the salary statistics.
Median wage and salary hourly earnings of massage therapists, including gratuities, were $16.06 in May 2006. The middle 50 percent earned between $10.98 and $24.22. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $7.48, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $33.83. Generally, massage therapists earn 15 to 20 percent of their income as gratuities.
I guess after looking at the statistics it looks more accurate. The highest wage per hour is $33.83 which is way under what I think a massage therapist should be making an hour.
I think it is intereting that massage is the only profession I know of that hires people for two different hourly rates- the rate for when they are actually doing a massage and the rate for when they don’t have a client which is usually minimum wage or nothing at all. Some places like Massage Envy and other franchises only charge $50 an hour for a massage but even then I can’t imagine that their overhead is $35 an hour when there are usually 10 massage therapists giving clients massages at once. What really aggravates me is when chiropractors or high end spas charge over $100 an hour and I have heard stories as high as $150 -$200 an hour and still only pay the massage therapist less than $35 an hour.
Part of the problem is that massage therapists are just accepting such low wages even though they know that they can’t do more than 25 massages a week without risking burnout. I was thinking about this the other day and was wondering why the massage profession and other helping professions seem to attact people who just want to help but don’t want to get paid for it. It is like that too for psychologists who have much more training and also acupuncturists and Naturopaths. That’s a whole other section on my website – why we help.
Massage therapists also are just looking for jobs most of the time and don’t think of it as a career or calling. When people who think of a career in massage as more of a calling and way of life they are more passionate about finding work or creating a job of their own. Instead of just hitting all of the spas and massage franchises they take their time to find out where they want to work based on how the company will be able to let them expand their work and become part of the healing team.
Instead of just going into a job everyday massage therapists are more motivated when they feel like they are respected and paid what they are worth and can work with their own styles of massage instead of having to do a spa massage that is supposed to feel like everyone eles massage. (It never does of course anyways.)
So if you are serious about finding or creating your ideal job in massage start thinking about what you can do for the company/business instead of what they can do for you. What can you do for them in the way of creating repeat and new business? How will you be able to educate clients more and get them coming in once a week? How can you work with the staff who answers the phone to let them know what type of massage you do and what type of clients that you work best with?
I wonder what the massage profession will be like if massage therapists ever just stopped taking low paying jobs and started creating thier own higher paying postions based on their unique skills and abilities to work with people? I guess there is always someone who will take the low job because they don’t think that they can do much better. That is one of my personal reasons for writing all of my blogs and websites to hopefully help massage therapists build thier confidence and start getting out of their own way onto a path of success and being of service (as opposed to helping).
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The newly opened Massage Envy shops all over suburban Chicago pay therapists starting at $14.00 hour Plus tips, which is way less than the average above. Also despite lobbying by AMTA-IL and National, the IL state legislature just passed a bill allowing chiropractors to train unlicensed persons to perform massage therapy under their supervision, despite having an Illinois licesning law that states exclusive rights to the terms massage, massage therapy or massage therapist under that law. So much for chiropractic supporting our scope of practice here. The AMTA ia working to overturn that new law.
I think a good solution is when therapists collectively rent out space. That way they can provide the professional touch of a spa with a person on the phones and even referring clients to another therapist when they vacation. I agree that places like Massage Envy aren’t the best for therapists, but at least therapists are receiving some money when not busy and they do receive tips from clients, usually $10-$20.