In many European countries, there has been a decline in the agricultural labour force, providing a major challenge for the rural economy and society. This book provides an analysis of rural employment dynamics in European Union member states and is the result of the RUREMPLO (Agriculture and employment in the rural regions of the EU") project, supported by an EU research programme. The book provides: a statistical analysis of socio-economic characteristics of all EU regions; 18 in-depth case studies covering leading and lagging regions in 9 EU member states; a discussion of the theory of employment development in the rural regions; recommendations for encouraging rural employment.