Study: Auto Glass Industry Lost 14% of Its Technicians Between 2020 and 2022

An April 2022 analysis by University of Oklahoma economist Robert C. Dauffenbach quantified what shop owners had been feeling intuitively: the auto glass technician workforce had contracted sharply during the pandemic years.

Dauffenbach's research, published April 26, 2022, found that the industry's technician count dropped from approximately 700,000 in 2020 to roughly 600,000 by early 2022—a 14% decline over just two years. The causes were multiple: pandemic-era workforce exits, early retirements, career changes accelerated by economic disruption, and limited recruitment of younger workers into a trade that requires specialized skills but is not typically covered in mainstream vocational training programs.

On wages, Dauffenbach traced a steady but insufficient increase. In 2017, the average auto glass technician earned approximately $17 per hour. By 2022, that figure had risen to approximately $24 per hour—a compound improvement, but one that had not kept pace with the broader labor market's wage inflation during the pandemic recovery. Dauffenbach projected the hourly rate could reach $30 by 2027 if supply-demand pressures continued.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' own May 2022 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data, published at bls.gov, confirmed the wage picture: the national mean for Automotive Glass Installers and Repairers (SOC 49-3022) in May 2022 was $21.11 per hour, with median annual earnings of $43,700. The 90th-percentile earner topped $28.80 per hour—still below many competing skilled trades.

For shop owners, the technician shortage had immediate operational consequences: longer appointment lead times, pressure to accept any available candidate rather than the best, and risk of quality problems from inadequately trained staff. Dauffenbach urged industry organizations to engage high school and community college programs aggressively, arguing that building a recruitment pipeline was the only sustainable solution to a structural workforce gap.

The technician shortage also had a quality dimension beyond simple headcount. Shops that were hiring from a smaller pool of available candidates sometimes accepted technicians whose training or experience was below the shop's normal standard, planning to bring them up to speed on the job. In a normal market, that approach works when senior technicians have capacity to mentor. In 2022's environment, where senior technicians were often stretched to capacity handling ADAS calibration and high appointment volumes simultaneously, the mentorship bandwidth was frequently unavailable.