It's not only in the body shop field, but all over the automotive field. I've worked in dealerships (GM) for 25 years, and it keeps getting worse and worse. The labor times go down, the dealer doesn't want to pay for the shop tools or the training, and the customers have the idea that all you do is plug the "gizmo" in and the thing diagnosis itself and the fix takes minutes. The newbees come in from votec and want top dollar to start, and most don't know to change oil properly. When was the last time your hood, door and gas door were lubed during a service? The insurance company doesn't want to pay for anything, and leave you with the job of telling the customer that their repair isn't covered.
Funny how all this started when the corner gas station stopped the service bays and started selling candy, soda and stuffed animals. No more real grass roots, hands-on training, just some instructors idea of whats the way to repair a car. When you started pumping gas, you got to hang around with the guys - sometimes. You had to clean the toolbench at the end of the day and put the tools away. How many had to "compound the floor" with a 2x4 and clay speedy-dry? THEN you got to work on the cars, but only when the mechanics could watch you and train you. One of the guys would always send you out to the pumps for a small amount of gas in a styrofoam cup to prime a carb ( if you were smart, you used a double cup so the gas would eat thru it just after you handed it back to the old guy). Most of the newbees don't even know what a carb is today.
Now before I get jumped on like the Marines, there ARE some good schools and some great, new people coming into the field, but they are the exception. The hot rod field is now the "tuner" bolt on and go. Gain 100 horsepower with NOS, bolt on a body kit (not fabricate body panels, just bolt-on). But when it blows up because it ran too lean, the car stays broken in the driveway until someone can afford a new or reman engine assembly because they don't know how an engine works. Then they need to find someone that can change the engine for them.