Henry Ford Institutes a Five-Dollar Daily Wage and an Eight-Hour Workday
Contributed By
PBS Learning Media
Henry Ford Institutes a Five-Dollar Daily Wage and an Eight-Hour Workday
Discover how Henry Ford used an increase in wages to address challenges facing his automobile company in this clip from American Experience. By more than doubling wages and creating "worker shareholders," Ford was able to both reduce assembly line turnover and create an expanded customer base for his Model T automobile. The policy played a major role in the transformation of the United States during the early 20th century from a society focused on production alone to one that emphasized both production and consumption.