To what extent female labor was applied in the industries of Switzerland as early as 1886, is told by the following figures of the "Bund":
| Industries. | Males. | Females. |
| Silk industry | 11,771 | 51,352 |
| Cotton industry | 18,320 | 23,846 |
| Linen and half-linen industry | 5,553 | 5,232 |
| Embroidery | 15,724 | 21,000 |
Altogether, there were then in the textile industries, 103,452 women engaged, besides 52,838 men; and the "Bund" expressly declares that there is hardly an occupation in Switzerland in which women are not found.
In Germany, according to the census of occupations of 1882, of the 7,340,789 persons engaged in gainful occupations, 1,506,743 were women; or 20.6 per cent. The proportions were, among others, these:—
Industries. | Males. | Females. | Per Cent. |
| Commercial occupations | 536,221 | 181,286 | 25.2 |
| Service and restaurants | 172,841 | 141,407 | 45.0 |
| Messengers and day laborers | 9,212 | 3,265 | 26.2 |
| Spinning | 69,272 | 100,459 | 60.0 |
| Weaving | 336,400 | 155,396 | 32.0 |
| Embroidery | 42,819 | 31,010 | 42.0 |
| Lace and crochet work | 5,676 | 30,204 | 84.0 |
| Lace manufacture | 13,526 | 17,478 | 56.4 |
| Bookbinding and paste-board box-making | 31,312 | 10,409 | 25.0 |
| Paper manufacture | 37,685 | 20,847 | 35.6 |
| Tobacco working | 64,477 | 48,919 | 43.1 |
| Clothes-making, etc. | 279,978 | 440,870 | 61.2 |
To these must be added 2,248,909 women engaged in agriculture, 1,282,400 female servants, also school teachers, artists, Government office-holders, etc.
According to the census of occupations for 1875-1882, the following was the result. There were employed in industrial occupations in the German Empire:—
| Total | Total Persons Employed. | |||||
| Persons Employed. | In the Small Trades. | In the Large Trades. | ||||
| Year. | Males. | Females. | Males. | Females. | Males. | Females. |
| 1875 | 5,463,856 | 1,116,095 | 3,453,357 | 705,874 | 2,010,499 | 410,221 |
| 1882 | 5,815,039 | 1,506,743 | 3,487,073 | 989,422 | 2,327,966 | 514,321 |
| ————————— | ————————— | ————————— | ——————— | ————————— | ——————— | |
| Increase in 1882 | 351,183 | 390,648 | 33,716 | 283,548 | 317,966 | 107,100 |
| or 6.4 | or 35 | or 1 | or 40.2 | or 15.8 | or 26.1 | |
| per cent. | per cent. | per cent. | per cent. | per cent. | per cent. | |
According to these figures, not only did female labor increase by 35 per cent. during the period of 1875-1882, while male labor increased only by 6.4 per cent., but the great increase of female labor, especially in small industries, tells the tale that only by dint of a strong application of female labor, with its correspondingly low wages, can small production keep itself afloat, for a while.