The Malaysian Insight

THE personal care services sector – made up of beauty and hair salons, and nail and skincare parlours – is among many business areas still struggling to get back on track due to the lack of skilled manpower.

Malaysia Cosmetology Chamber of Commerce president Alvin Loh said there is not enough skilled hairstylists, qualified skincare specialists or nail artists to meet industry demand.

Loh told The Malaysian Insight the personal care services sector would have returned where it was before the pandemic had it not been plagued by a shortage of skilled workers.

“And we’re not talking about hiring foreign workers to fill in the gap.

“The industry is recovering satisfactorily, but we cannot return to pre-pandemic levels because we cannot meet the overwhelming demand,” he said.

He added that a survey among industry peers at home and abroad found the problem is seen not only in Malaysia.

“Theoretically, we should have fully recovered if we look at the demand but in reality, we simply cannot achieve this.

“There’s just no way at the moment for business to return to 100%. We just don’t have the people for it.”

Loh said the lack of skilled workers had led to a 15% loss in business.

He said the recent Chinese New Year clearly underscored the position the industry was in.

“Many salons could not even take appointments because they didn’t have the manpower.”

Loh also said skincare and nail salons faced the most difficulty.

“They are losing people faster than they can replace them. Hair salons too are losing people, but unlike the nail and skin parlours, technical and vocational schools are churning out hairstylists.

“Blame the pandemic for our current predicament. When the salons and parlours were ordered shut during the movement-control order (MCO) period, many nail artists and cosmetologists were laid off.

“Without a job and without income, they were struggling to survive.”

He said they went into jobs least affected by the MCO.

“They went into sales. Some even switched to catering.

“Many just did not want to return to their old job for fear of a return of the pandemic that could leave them without a job again.”

Asked for his opinion on how the industry could resolve the manpower shortage, Loh said salon owners should not hire workers based on their skin colour or ethnicity.

He said one of his key findings when he visited several personal care schools was that the majority of the trainees were Malays.

“So if the industry wants to resolve the manpower shortage in the next one or two years, recruit these Malay girls.”

Loh added that salon and parlour operators should also be streetwise.

He said if salon owners had paid any attention to trends, they would have realised that the Chinese hairstylists or skin specialists they hired left to start their own business after learning the trade.

“They don’t need the problem of seeing their former employee become a business rival.”

Loh said opening a personal care salon is not that difficult. All one needs is some skills and the Malaysian Professional Technical Certificate.

Sarawak Kuching Beauty Association president Allan Wong said a lack of workers account for 30% of the problems faced by the group’s members.

“This has prevented the industry in East Malaysia from recovering fully,” he said.

“With so many people losing their jobs because of the pandemic, it has created great fear among parents.

“They are discouraging their children from going into the industry for fear the pandemic could make a comeback.”

He also felt inflation has had an impact on the personal care industry.

“Getting your hair and nails done or going for a facial treatment are not considered a necessity. So with the cost of living going up, many regular customers have cut their trip to the salons.”

To inject some life back into the industry, Wong said his association will be holding a trade show in Sabah and Sarawak from June 22 to 25.

“We hope to get people interested in working in the industry and revive consumer confidence.”

Wong said the industry in the Borneo states last year only recovered 40-50%, which he described as “tepid”.

This year, however, the recovery pace shot up, with about 80% of regular customers returning.

The reason, he added, is that people are getting more confident the dangers of Covid-19 are over.

“They no longer feel afraid to go about without a mask.”

Loh, who is also co-founder of the Federation of Asian Beauty Industry Association, said the government’s failure to support the personal care services sector had caused Malaysia lose its competitive edge to South Korea.

“We were once competitive among the Asian heavyweights – Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea,” Loh said.

“But because the government was not very supportive, we in turn had become very dependent on personal care products from China and South Korea.”

Wong said he hoped the government would pay more attention to the industry.

“If the government can invest in producing skilled workers, the industry recover more quickly.” – March 29, 2023.