Economics

Henry Ford doubled his workers' pay — and it made the company richer

In 1914, Ford Motor Company was losing workers to brutal turnover on its assembly lines. Henry Ford abruptly raised the minimum wage to five dollars a day, roughly double the going rate, stunning the business world. Turnover collapsed, productivity rose, and many workers could now afford the cars they were building — an early real-world case for what economists now call efficiency wages.

Ford Motor Company, Five dollar day — 1914

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