+ How Much Would You Work For? No Job!

+ How Much Would You Work For? No Job! $11.00 $5.00 $15.00 $9.00

+ January 12 th 1914 Wage Rates Henry Ford’s $5-a-day innovation

+ On January 5, 1914, Henry Ford announced his $5/day program for autoworkers at his factory. In this program, which Ford called “profit sharing,” workers over the age of 22 who had been at Ford for at least 6 months would be guaranteed a minimum of $5 for an 8 hour work day.

+ Henry Ford’s $5-a-day innovation For many Ford workers, this policy more than doubled their pay and made them the highest paid workers in the industry. At the time, there were no minimum wage laws in the U.S. Other industrialists scoffed at Ford for raising production costs unnecessarily.

+ Henry Ford’s $5-a-day innovation The main purpose of Ford’s policy was to reduce high turnover and the associated costs of having to constantly train new workers. It was so successful in addressing the turnover problem that the policy actually saved the company money. Those savings led others to follow Ford’s lead.

+ Henry Ford’s $5-a-day innovation Ford’s policy was also likely motivated by a desire to discourage workers from organizing a union and to fend off government regulation (which Ford adamantly opposed).

+ Henry Ford’s $5-a-day innovation One outcome often attributed to Ford’s policy was the creation of the American middle class, because he was the first manufacturer of a “luxury” item to pay his workers enough to afford the product they built. Because Ford’s high wage policy raised the standard of living for the working poor, his approach is sometimes labeled “welfare capitalism.”

+ In 1938 the legislation passed the ”Fair Labor Relations Act”(FDRA). The FDRA’s guaranteed a minimum wage for the first time in U.S. history Fair Labor Relations Act

+ The establishment of a minimum wage was intended to help full-time workers avoid poverty and/or unfair treatment by employers Fair Labor Relations Act

+ Minimum Wage Minimum wage laws, with some exceptions, apply to all workers in a given jurisdiction, whether in the public or private sector. The FLSA requires employers in every state to pay covered and nonexempt workers at least the federal hourly minimum wage Cost of Living New House $270,000 Average Income 51,759 New Car 31,252 Average Rent Tuition to Harvard Movie Ticket 8.42 Gasoline 3.00 United States Postage Stamp.49 Food Granulated Sugar 5.83 for 10 lbs. Vitamin D Milk 3.67 per gallon Ground Coffee 2.45 per pound Bacon 6.11 per pound Eggs 4.49 per dozen

+ Minimum Wage vs. Living Wage Minimum Wage Minimum wage laws, with some exceptions, apply to all workers in a given jurisdiction, whether in the public or private sector. Living Wage Living wages raise the minimum hourly wage to a level sufficient for workers to meet the basic needs of their families.

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+ This chart shows the impact of inflation and the declining