Henry Ford: $5 Day

8 artifacts in this set

This Expert Set was compiled in 2013 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Henry Ford’s birth.

Crowd of Applicants outside Highland Park Plant after Five Dollar Day Announcement, January 1914

Photographic print

Ford workers disliked the new assembly line methods so much that by late 1913, labor turnover was 380 percent. The company's announcement to pay five dollars for an eight-hour day compared to the previous rate of $2.34 for a nine-hour day made many workers willing to submit to the relentless discipline of the line in return for such high wages.