‘Not So Clear Cut’: The Link Between Skill Recognition and Higher Wages

Feminists and labour process theorists have emphasised skill recognition as a crucial determinant in the way that work is organised and rewarded. However, the case of hairdressers challenges assumptions about the link between skilled status and higher wages. Hairdressers have had trade status for over 50 years and yet wages in the industry are significantly lower than wages of many unqualified workers. A range of labour and product market factors stand between hairdressers’ formal skill recognition and equitable wages. A distinction is drawn between institutional skill recognition and industrial skill recognition. This distinction is important because the assumed link between skilled status and higher wages has informed pay equity strategies that have focused on reform at the institutional level. An examination of the hairdressing industry shows that pay equity strategies need to operate at both the institutional and workplace level.