income. Figure 17. Gross Annual Income of massage therapists in different work settings Highlights from Figure 17 Full time employees earned the highest annual income, followed by sole practitioners. 30 Most work settings involve some form of overhead, or costs that are incurred on the part of the employer or business owner. Therefore, when a client pays for a massage, part of the rate the client pays goes to covering facility rent, marketing, supply costs, and various other business expenses and profit. The rest goes to the therapist providing the service. In Figure 18, therapist pay is shown as a percentage of the rate the client is charged.. Therapist pay as percentage of client rate in different work settings Highlights from Figure 18 Those settings that tend to have a larger number of sole practitioners tend to have a higher percent of pay to client rate. 31 Where consumers find massage therapists and therapists find clients Massage therapists obtain clients from many sources. Referrals by clients is the most prevalent way that therapist find clients, although most do not actively promote via this medium. See Figure 19 for more detail. % of consumers find % of therapists who therapists via this medium promote via this medium Referrals by clients 90% 38% Internet/websites 85 59 Social media 68 79 Community/local events 47 80 Professional networking 47 82 with other providers Locator service 45 81 Figure 19. Where consumers found therapists and where therapists promoted their services. Highlights from Figure 19 The average therapist uses more than four outlets of communication to promote their practice. As shown in Figure 20, massage therapists were active in referring clients to each other, although at less frequency than in years past. 32 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Once a week or more often Several times a month Once every 6 months or less Never 2020 2019 2018 Figure 20. Frequency of receiving referrals from other massage therapists Highlights from Figure 20 Massage therapists received referrals from other massage therapists less frequently in 2020 than in 2019. 33 2D. What are some of the benefits available to massage therapists? When working as an employee, massage therapists may have several benefits available to them. Massage therapists have many benefits available to them through their employers · The most frequently offered benefit to employees in 2020 was free or discounted massages. · Paid time off was the least offered benefit to employees. 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% Benefits Available to Employees Figure 21. Benefits available to employees through their employers Highlights from Figure 21 Paid time off and life insurance are the least prevalent benefits among employees. 34 2E. Where are massage therapists practicing? Most massage therapists say they are a sole practitioner, at least part of the time. AMTA’s research on the massage industry in 2020 shows that massage therapists: · Continued to travel to their clients’ homes to provide massage. Providing massage in the client’s home decreased slightly from 40% in 2019 to 38% in 2020. · Forty percent of massage therapists provided massage in their offices, a decrease from 2019 numbers. · Thirty-two percent of massage therapists provided massage in their homes. See Figure 22 for the visual representation of this data. Figure 22. Massage therapists’ work settings in 2020 Highlights from Figure 22 The average therapist works in about two settings. Massage therapists worked in many different employment/practice arrangements. Seventytwo percent of massage therapists described themselves as sole practitioners. Full and parttime employees have been relatively consistent as compared to last year. Note that 11% of therapists worked in more than one practice arrangement. Figure 23 shows the most common types of employment/practice. 35 Type of Massage Therapist Part Time Employee Full Time Employee Contractor Sole Practitioner 13% 10% 16% 72% Figure 23. Massage therapists’ self-described employment/practice arrangements Highlights of Figure 23 Seventy-two percent of massage therapists described themselves a sole practitioner. Eleven percent of therapists work in more than one practice arrangement. Massage therapists had been working more hours The average work week of massage therapists was 27.2 hours in 2020, up from 26.6 last year. Sixty-eight percent of those hours were spent performing massage. The other time was spent on cleaning and sanitizing massage rooms and offices, marketing, performing general business tasks, filing for insurance reimbursement, and other tasks. See Figure 24 for more details. An average work week of a massage therapist (Note: because of rounding, totals may equal more than 100%) Highlights from Figure 24 Insurance