Switzerland's total energy consumption, which was dropping from the mid 1910s to the early 1920s, started to increase again in the early 1920s. The industrial sector began to grow in the 19th century with a laissez-faire industrial/trade policy, Switzerland's emergence as one of the most prosperous nations in Europe, sometimes termed the "Swiss miracle", was a development of the mid 19th to early 20th centuries, among other things tied to the role of Switzerland during the World Wars. Nevertheless, the network was barely coordinated because of the decentralised system. Despite the competition between private players, Switzerland was covered with more than 1000 km of track by 1860. Railways played a major part in industrialization the first railway opened in 1847, between Zurich and Baden.
The proportion of women in the workforce was higher between 18 than it was in the late 1960s and 1970s. Nearly half the women worked in the textile mills, with household servants the second largest job category.
In 1888, women made up 44% of wage earners. In Basel, for example, textiles, including silk, were the leading industry. While Switzerland was primarily rural, the cities experienced an industrial revolution in the late 19th century, focused especially on textiles. Both tourism and banking began to develop as economic factors at about the same time. By 1814, hand weaving had been mostly replaced by the power loom. But in Switzerland, hydraulic power was often used instead of steam engines because of the country's mountainous topography and lack of significant deposits of coal. Gallen, with the third generation of machines imported from Great Britain. While a workshop system had been in existence throughout the early modern period, the production of machines began in 1801 in St. Before that time, the city-cantons of Zurich, Geneva, and Basel in particular began to develop economically based on industry and trade, while the rural regions of Switzerland remained poor and underdeveloped.