The next wave of competition...

[Mrs.Bossy]

Down economic times usually means boom times for "my next career" training. Enrollment in MBA programs, computer training/certifications and probably massage therapy schools are set to surge. Sit out the slow times by increasing your skills and marketability.

Displaced workers often get a re-training/education benefit and feelings run very highly negative towards traditional work as the latest round of layoffs remind folks there is no job security/loyalty. "If CitiBank/GM/Fill in the blank can go under, then I can only count on myself"

Tthose already trained but not seriously practicing are likely to stop dabbling and be a little more dedicated to building a practice as they or their partner's job security/income becomes less certain.

18-24 months from now I suspect there will be a glut of new MTs on the market.

 

[matelotdougla1]

R & R,

An interesting observation. Around here (Portland) massge school enrollments took a serious downturn about two years ago. Just about the time I graduated. It would be interesting to see if my school is seeing an upturn in the number of people interested in enrolling. Maybe I'll drop by there next week. . .

If you are correct about a "wave" of new LMTs on the market in a couple years it might behoove us to sharpen our business practices now. Something to think about. . . . 8)

 

[Layna <3]

The schools here may churn out a glut of new graduates, but given that two local spas have shut their doors and everyone else seems to be running lean, I wonder where these new grads will be working?

 

[Baby Blue]

The schools here may churn out a glut of new graduates, but given that two local spas have shut their doors and everyone else seems to be running lean, I wonder where these new grads will be working?

I totally agree. Considering that the last big boom of MT students came as a result of the prosperity of the 90's to the early part of this decade when the prospects and money were great and clients bountiful I would find it hard to believe that the schools (which have been progressively declining in both number of schools and students) would suddenly see a "boom." There is no precedent for this kind of claim regarding the massage profession.

Nonetheless I think it is good advice to hone one's skills as I truly believe in a difficult economy it will take every talent one has to be able to thrive.

 

[tales06]

I am the product of a layoff/downsizing in the mid-late 1990s that sent me straight to Employment Security for readily-available retraining money. My other message boards are full of families who are retraining or going back to school, and I am getting requests for info about the viability of massage therapy as a career. I'll be very interested to see where this all ends up!

 

[Aly]

the cohort/group of students that just began class a couple of months ago has a class size of something like 36 students. the supposed allowed enrollment is only 20 students. so it seems there may have been a surge in my area.
luckily they realized the class was too large for bodywork classes (with just one teacher) and divided them into two classes. i can't say why there was this surge exactly, but i was kind of surprised to hear about it.

myself, i never thought of massage school as a quick easy break into a good paying job, so i wonder if there will soon be a lot of disgruntled graduates if this is the idea? i would think something more like dental hygienists would have a better income potential right out of school, and i think that's just a 2 year degree.

but then, i would never trade massage therapy work for dental hygiene either! eek!

well, it definitely will be interesting to see what happens.

on a positive side, if there is a surge of mt's on the market it will give the really good massage therapists out there an even brighter shine...and i am working super hard so i can hopefully be one of those!!!

 

[carrie_adams19]

I am the product of a layoff/downsizing in the mid-late 1990s that sent me straight to Employment Security for readily-available retraining money.

Ah yes, those were the days! It was a whole different era back then. Back in those days massage was a great and prosperous alternative as you could go to massage school and usually get a pretty good paying job as soon as you graduated (around 60 bucks as opposed to about 15 or 20 bucks per hour now) and the requirements and regulations were far more lenient. In those days most massage schools advertised pretty good pay and that is usually a good incentive to invest your time and resources. They don't make those claims anymore because that's not the current reality and regulations and licensing requirements have become much more demanding. We're also in a much, much scarier economic reality now then we were back then. With this current recession we are seeing disposable income in a sharp decline.

The Massage School of Santa Monica closed it's main campus last year and now operates out of their small satellite campus in North Hollywood. This place was an institution out here training tens of thousands over the years. They would never have done that if they had a large student enrollment.

Whatever, it will be what it will be and those that are meant to do this will continue and those that aren't won't.