California’s Fast-Growing Nail Salon Workforce Faces Low Wages & Misclassification, Says New Research From UCLA & CHNSC
MEDIA ADVISORY: March 7, 2024
CONTACT: Emily Jo Wharry, UCLA Labor Center, emilyjowharry@g.ucla.edu, (310) 617-5609; Nina Ho, California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, nho@cahealthynailsalons.org, (714) 869-1894
PRESS BRIEFING: Tuesday, March 19 at 10:00 a.m. PT (RSVP via Zoom)
California’s Fast-Growing Nail Salon Workforce Faces Low Wages & Misclassification, Says New Research From UCLA & CHNSC
Transformed primarily by Vietnamese refugee women, the California nail salon industry leads the nation in size and innovation—yet workers continue to face wage and hour labor violations, and owners and workers alike still need access to strong labor law education. The findings have informed a new California bill.
CALIFORNIA — Researchers from the UCLA Labor Center and California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative will share top findings from their new study of California’s rapidly growing nail salon industry, home to the largest number of licensed manicurists and nail salons in the U.S. Additional speakers include nail salon workers, policy experts, and California State Assemblymember Alex Lee (AD 24).
The report’s findings reveal that manicurists—primarily Vietnamese, immigrant, and refugee women—earn sub-minimum wages and experience rampant employment status misclassification, which weakens their workplace protections. Additionally, mom-and-pop salon owners receive insufficient language- and culturally-appropriate labor law education. The findings informed AB 2444, a new bill introduced by Assemblymember Lee on Feb. 13, 2024.
WHAT: Press briefing with researchers, workers, policy experts, and a legislator about new data on California’s nail salon workers and their industry.
WHEN: Tuesday, March 19 at 10:00 a.m. PT
WHERE: Zoom. Click here to RSVP.
WHO:
- Lisa Fu, Executive Director, California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative
- Mary Nguyễn, Policy and Research Manager, California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative
- James Huỳnh, Graduate Student Researcher, UCLA Labor Center
- Preeti Sharma, Assistant Professor of American Studies, California State University Long Beach
- Benjamin Tran, Policy Strategist, Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California
- Alex Lee, Assemblymember, 24th District, California State Assembly
- Joanne Nguyen, Nail Salon Worker
- Anh Doan, Former Nail Salon Worker
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About the UCLA Labor Center:
Established in 1964, the UCLA Labor Center believes that a public university belongs to the people and advances cutting-edge research, education, and service guided by our core values: economic equity, racial and immigrant justice, and worker power and solidarity. Through our signature approaches and methodology that employ research justice, narrative storytelling, student and leader-to-movement pathways, and culturally and racially responsive evaluation, we partner with workers, unions, worker centers, students, and impacted communities to advance economic justice across California, the nation, and globally. Learn more: labor.ucla.edu
About the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative:
Founded in 2005, the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative (CHNSC) is a statewide grassroots organization that addresses health, environmental, reproductive justice, and other social issues faced by its low-income, female, Vietnamese immigrant and refugee workforce. Using a multi-layered approach that blends community organizing, grassroots policy advocacy, and community-based research, CHNSC builds power of the nail salon community to develop solutions that benefit the nail salon workforce, their families, small immigrant and refugee-owned businesses, and their communities. Learn more: cahealthynailsalons.org
