BLS Data Reveals Auto Glass Technician Pay Lags Industry Averages as Shops Compete for Labor

Reviewing mid-May 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey data for Automotive Glass Installers and Repairers—occupational code 49-3022—providing the clearest national wage benchmark available for the trade and confirming what shop owners were experiencing in their own hiring efforts.

The May 2022 survey recorded 17,370 employed workers in the category nationally—a count that reflected the 14% technician workforce decline documented earlier in 2022. The national mean hourly wage was $21.11, with a median of $21.01 per hour. Median annual earnings stood at $43,700. At the 90th percentile, the top earners in the trade reached $28.80 per hour, or approximately $59,900 annually.

These figures compared unfavorably to adjacent skilled trades in the same BLS survey cycle. Automotive service technicians and mechanics (49-3023) earned a national mean of $23.44 per hour; aircraft mechanics and service technicians were above $35. For a trade that requires genuine technical skill—including ADAS component awareness, urethane chemistry knowledge and precision installation—the wage gap made recruitment from competing vocational training pipelines difficult.

The wage data also confirmed a geographic dispersion pattern: technicians in metropolitan areas with high costs of living commanded wages at or above the 75th percentile ($23.84 hourly) while rural and secondary market technicians often earned at or below the median. This mismatch between cost-of-living pressures and local market wage benchmarks was a factor in the workforce decline in certain regions.

Shop owners who used the BLS data as a baseline for setting technician compensation were better equipped to have credible conversations with candidates. Those who had historically paid below the median were finding in 2022 that new technicians—particularly those with any ADAS calibration experience—were evaluating multiple competing offers before accepting positions.

The BLS May 2022 data also suggested a strategic opportunity for shops willing to pay above-median wages: the pool of technicians willing to change employers for better compensation was active in 2022, as tight labor markets gave workers leverage they had not previously had. Shops that offered $23–26 per hour with ADAS training—above the $21.11 national mean—reported attracting experienced candidates who were leaving larger operations for shops that provided more individual advancement opportunity.