The Albanais is majorly rural but the
agricultural economy benefits from a diffuse
urbanization that differently affects all communes. New residents and the younger generations generally work in the urban and peri-urban zones of Rumilly, Aix-les-Bains, Annecy, or further out in
Chambéry and
Geneva. Regardless, agriculture retains importance, especially the breeding of
dairy cows. The making of
butter and
tomme from milk was done via communal labor until recently. These factories have largely closed in the last two decades of the twentieth century. Two modern
tomme manufacturers were built near Gruffy and Sales, but the milk production of the region largely exceeds their capacity. The Albanais has longtime been a home to two important industrial milk producers:
Lait Mont-Blanc in Rumilly, which produced
condensed milk until it was purchased by
Nestlé and began producing
cereals; and the cheesemaker
Picon in Saint-Félix, which produced
crème de gruyère and was purchased by
Bel in 1968, finally closing in 2001. An important cheese production center still exists in
Vallières. The Albanais played an important part in the tobacco culture in France for nearly a century. Multiples rare
tobacco dryers remained in production until they were abandoned in 1960, and thus a former tobacco manufacturer in Rumilly whose building was in part sacrificed for a
real estate program. Tobacco crops ceded their place in the countryside to
maize destined for
fodder. There were previously
granaries, whose mills were still functioning up until the 1950s. Either demolished or transformed into housing; they can still be seen in their location at the bottoms of valleys.
Wheat was unable to be milled from the small machines run on
hydroelectric power. There were also
sawmills, oil mills, and small
power stations (in fact, Alby was one of the first communes in France to have electricity).
Timber, mostly
spruce and
beech, is harvested slightly throughout the region, particularly in the
dominial forests of the bordering mountainous regions. Several villages also have sawmills and workshops that are used to construct
woodworking joints. The cultivation of
hazel nuts has essential disappeared, with the exception of on the slopes of
Clergeon, as well as
vineyards. Some vestiges of
oil mills are remembered through the
toponymy of place names.
Orchards (
apples,
pears,
cherries,
prunes, etc.) have largely disappeared with the exception of the basin of Rumilly, where pears are cultivated on a relatively large scale.
Alby-sur-Chéran for a longtime specialized in
shoemaking. A small museum retraces the history of the former factory on the
Place du Trophée. In Rumilly there is an important industrial zone (
Tefal, Nestlé, and formerly Lait Mont-Blanc and Salomon which closed in 2008), as well as in Alby-sur-Chéran (
Galderma). Two new intercommunal economic activity zones (ZAEs, ''zone d'activités économiques'') are under construction, one in the sector of Martenez and another in Surchères. These industrial and commercial zones extend into the communes of Seynod, Chavanod, and Cran-Gevrier, which border Annecy and Grésy-sur-Aix, near Aix-les-Bains. In the last few years, numerous
logistical services were installed and developed in the region, that have either benefited or suffered from the presence of the
autoroute. However, these service industries generally pay less and require less
skilled trades than the industries that have historically operated in Rumilly and the surrounding areas.
La Poste has recently implanted its new industrial
mail sorter for the departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie, in the industrial zone of Balvay in Rumilly at an investment cost of €31 million. The sorting center has seven machines each capable of sorting 35,000 letters per hour. As a result, the regional
post offices no longer sort their mail and are able to restructure their larger buildings for other purposes. Part of the main post office in Annecy was transformed into residential housing in 2008-2009. ==Transportation==