The table shows the number of employees and factories producing silk in England and Wales between 1851 and 1901.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

Sample 1:

The table provides information about the workforce in silk production in two countries, England and Wales, over a period of 50 years starting from 1851.

It is clear that the total number of silk workers in the two countries declined over the period shown, and that significantly more women were employed than men in this industry. Also, the number of silk manufacturing factories increased over the 50-year period, despite fluctuations.

In 1851, the silk workforce was largest with 130,750 people, including 76,786 females and nearly 54,000 males. In contrast, there was the lowest number of silk factories, with only 272 factories, in 1851. However, ten years later, the number of silk manufacturers reached 761, nearly triple that of the first year while the total number of employees experienced a significant fall of over 20,000 people.

Over the following 41 years, the total number of female and male workers decreased gradually throughout the period, to 25,567 and 13,375 respectively, which contributed to the drop in the total number of employees at 38,942 in 1901. Meanwhile, there was a slight decrease in the figure for factories, which was down to 623 by the end of the period.

Sample 2:

The diagram below illustrates how many silk factories there were in England and Wales from 1851 to 1901 and how many people worked in those factories over the same period.

Overall, while there was an upward trend in the number of silk mills over the given period, a reverse trend was observed in the total number of employees. It is also noticeable that there were considerably more females than males employed in this industry.

Looking into the statistics, in 1851, there were 130750 people working in 272 factories producing silk. Ten years later, the figure for factory workers suffered a significant decline of more than 20000 individuals, whereas the number of silk-manufacturing plants peaked at 761, almost triple that of the first year. From 1861 to 1901, while the figure for employees continued to drop until it hit a low of just under 39000 at the end of the period, the number of factories fluctuated in the first two decades before slightly decreasing to 623 in the last year.

With regard to male and female workers, in the first year, there were nearly 54000 men and over 76000 women working in silk mills. Over the next 50 years, a steady fall was witnessed in the figures for both male and female staff members. In the final year, these figures hit a low of over 13000 and above 25000 respectively. It is also worth noting that throughout the period shown, the number of female workers was invariably higher than that of male workers by at least 5000 people.