If you're scanning the horizon for the industries that are contributing to the state's recent burst of job expansion, one of them might be at your feet.

Pedicurists, hair stylists, massage therapists and other personal-service jobs were the state's fastest-growing sectors from 2000 to 2005. An average growth rate of 8 percent per year yielded 16,000 jobs.

About 93,900 jobs were created from 2000 to 2005 by sectors that outpaced the state's population growth — estimated at 1.2 percent per year by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Personal services, health care and restaurants together created 57,600 jobs over the five years that span the pre-recession peak of 2000 to the new all-time peak of 1,860,400.

Shannon Brogdon, 28, left a hairstyling job at a department store in April, where she made about $15,000 last year, to work at Tranquil Moments Salon & Spa at Devine and Maple streets — one of a bevy of high-priced day spas that have opened in Columbia in recent years.

Hairstylists at the top of the profession can make $50,000 to $100,000 if they develop a reputation and clientele, Brogdon said. Having that clientele also depends on location, she said.

"The location on Devine Street has a wealthier clientele," she said. "They're not going to look down their noses at paying $150 for a color, cut and style," a procedure that can take two to four hours.

Kristin Sturgill was 12 weeks from completing a two-year associate's degree in nursing in 2000 when she decided to veer from medicine. At that point, Sturgill's father offered her some career advice: "You need to get a degree in something fast."

Sturgill took a yearlong course at a beauty school in West Columbia, driving to school in a 10-year-old Mitsubishi Mirage she dubbed "the uglymobile."

Sturgill works at The Loft, a Logan Raye day spa on Gervais Street. She is one of a half dozen women employees there, most in their 20s, some making more than $40,000 per year.

That includes 22-year-old massage therapist Katie Dickell. She moved to Tempe, Ariz., after high school and spent a year taking massage classes as a part-time student.

Sewell Gelberd, owner of Logan Raye, said his toughest challenge is finding employees like Sturgill and Dickell who are masters of their craft and who treat customers well.

Gelberd opened his first Logan Raye shop in 2002 in an old railroad warehouse built in 1895 at the corner of Gervais and Gadsden streets in the Vista.

His second shop opened at Lake Carolina in 2004, and he expanded his Gervais Street location last year by opening The Loft on the second floor of the adjacent building. It's reached by a flight of steps Gelberd calls the "stairway to heaven."

Haircuts start at $32 for men and $50 for women. If you're looking for Japanese hair straightening, expect to spend $500 to $600 and the better part of a day at Logan Raye. An hour-long massage is $75.

Gelberd says successful small businesses often are found by looking for concepts that have proved successful in major cities and taking them to smaller cities.

"The hardest thing about this business is getting good people — employees," he said. "It's not that there aren't enough of them; it's getting good ones. People who see this as a creative expression — that's what I want."

And Gelberd has plans to expand the supply. He signed an agreement this spring to buy an area hairstyling school, but he won't say which one. The deal is set to close this summer.

Sisters of Charity Providence Hospital employs about 1,900 full-time workers, up from about 1,100 six years ago. The opening of the hospital's Providence Hospital Northeast branch was the major reason for the hiring.

But the new jobs were needed because of the area's growing — and increasingly elderly — population, said Rick Grooms, Providence's vice president of human resources.

The area's most dramatic growth in health care jobs is not inside hospitals — or even in nursing homes. Instead, the fastest-growing sector is in the offices of doctors and dentists.

Registered nurses, who must earn a four-year degree, start at just under $20 per hour, or $40,000 per year, in the Columbia area. Most earn between $25 to $35 per hour, he said.

Licensed practical nurses, who must complete a one-year training program, earn about $11 to $12 per hour. Most of them work in nursing homes and physicians' offices.

Nursing assistants, who bathe patients and help them in and out of bed, typically earn about $8 per hour, Grooms said. They take an eight- to 10-week certification course.

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