Rural people are finding innovative ways to boost their income as countryside communities across England struggle to shake off the worst of the recession.

Age-old rural customs such as bartering could be making a return as people try to supplement their salaries at a time when cash is hard to come by, suggests a new vulnerability index.

The index was developed by economic analysts from Rose Regeneration, in partnership with the Rural Services Network.

“The Index reveals a strange conundrum about rural places,” said analyst Ivan Annibal.

“It shows that the ‘informal’ economy is prevalent in rural England, with people trading and networking in ways which support each other outside of the traditional state.”

The index comprises the most up-to-date information available on wage levels, job seekers allowance claimants, the size of the workforce and the scale of public sector jobs[1].

It shows that although many areas of rural England[2] have the lowest wages, they also have the lowest levels of Job Seeker Allowance (JSA) claimants.

Average wages in rural England are £440 per week – some 14% lower than in urban England (where average wages are £498 per week).

“You may therefore anticipate there would be more JSA claimants in areas with poorer pay but in fact the opposite is true,” said Mr Annibal.

In May 2010, JSA claimants made up 3.01% of the workforce in rural England compared with 4.27% of the workforce in urban England.

The Vulnerability Index reveals a number of interesting findings:

• Rural people in many communities are used to getting by on less;  

• Rural communities are economically resilient, but it is questionable how far this resilience can be maintained;

• It is often difficult for rural people to access services such as Job Centres.

The full Vulnerability index can be downloaded here (318KB pdf).

Graham Biggs, Chief Executive of the Rural Services Network, said: “People underestimate the power of the informal economy in rural areas. The information from our joint work on the vulnerability index suggests they shouldn’t take it for granted.”

Rural England was split between commuters who chose to live there for quality of life reasons while generating a living elsewhere, and those who have to rely on sparser local resources.

This latter category of people – who lived and worked directly in their communities – would be hardest hit by the pending impact of public sector austerity, said Mr Biggs.

A further reduction in public sector jobs and cuts in local services threatened to push some rural communities into even greater self reliance or start unravelling their sustainability.