Henry Ford's Impact On The United States Economy

Henry Ford is worthy of inclusion in HIST 1301 because of his innovations and his impact on the United States economy. He became one of the most significant industrialists in history, by contributing to changes in the age of mass production at the turn of the century, raising worker wages, lowering the cost of the automobile for the middle class and permanently altering American culture through these changes.

First, Henry Ford envisioned making everyone have access to a reliable car that was affordable. So, in June 1903, Ford witnessed the founding of the Ford Motor Company, which sold its first car in July, made a profit in its first year, and over the course of 19 years, sold more than 15 million cars in the United States and extended internationally, accounting for half of the

Ford's innovations in work organization also helped the American middle class grow, changing the economic structure of the nation with the factory's adoption of the moving system method of production and its subsequent revolution in the automobile industry. However, the Model T's moving assembly line, which enabled workers to create one in just 90 minutes, was despised by the workforce. Third, because the new production method required workers to finish their tasks before the vehicle could move down the production line, it strictly timed the work and made it monotonous and repetitive. Many workers left to work for rival companies. As a counter to the high turnover, Ford introduced the $5 Day in 1914 to help stabilize the workforce. He began paying his employees $5 per day, which is double what a factory worker would make in a day and nearly double what other automakers pay their employees. For workers in the 20th century, this was one of the major turning points. Additionally, Ford shortened the workday to eight hours, enabling the business to run three shifts continuously, which greatly improved factory efficiency, and the five-day workweek was then