Minimum wage / Ford instituted a $5 per day minimum wage on Jan. 5, 1914

On Jan. 5, 1914, Henry Ford announced a series of work reforms and special payments for Ford Motor Co. employees that included a $5 per day minimum wage, at a time when the average pay for American workers was $12.50 a week.

Ford also announced that its factories would run continuously, up from 18 hours per day, but that workers would only work eight-hour shifts, down from the nine- to 10-hour standard shifts. The increased production time and decreased shift hours would add nearly 30 percent to the Ford workforce in its Detroit factories.

In addition to the changes in wages and work hours, Ford announced a profit-sharing plan that would pay about $10 million ($221 million in 2011 dollars) to 26,000 employees.

It was a stunning announcement in progressive labor policies that made the front page of The New York Times the next day.

“It is our belief,” said Ford treasurer James Couzens, “that social justice begins at home. We want those who have helped us to produce this great institution and are helping to maintain it to share our prosperity. We want them to have present profits and future prospects. Thrift and good service and sobriety, all will be enforced and recognized.”

Choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from

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