The information on this site is subject to a disclaimer and a copyright notice . The rural character of a region is, therefore, not an obstacle to job creation. On the contrary, an attractive natural and cultural environment, with lower levels of congestion, can be an important factor in encouraging business investment. The economic and social features of rural areas vary significantly across the Union as well as within individual Member States. These are often close to urban centres and have, in general, above average income per head.
Jobs are predominantly in industry and services rather than agriculture.
In many such areas, agriculture continues to play a significant role, though they tend to be experiencing increasing economic diversity and growing activity in, for example, food processing as well as services. Their relative isolation is often due to their topography, such as their mountainous nature, and they tend to have a highly dispersed and ageing population, poor infrastructure, inadequate services, low income per head, a relatively unskilled work force, weak links with the rest of the economy and high employment in agriculture.