Mining, Energy, Construction, Textiles, Chemical Industries, Glass and Wood, Mechanical Engineering, the Food Industry, Farming, and Forestry all are part of the economic infrastructure of the region.

Spree- Neiße is one of the industrial conurbation areas of Brandenburg, although even here, as in so many areas of East Germany, the structural crisis of the early 1990s did not spare the most important industries.

In the past the economic structure of the area was shaped mainly by the mining of brown coal and the energy economy, as well as the textile and glass industries. Today only around 10% of workers are employed in the coal and energy industries, although this branch of the economy still plays a significant role, necessitated by the Lusatian coal deposits. Evidence for this are the three mines at Jänschwalde, Cottbus-Nord and Welzow, as well as the brown coal power stations Jänschwalde and Schwarze Pumpe. Sixty percent of the total area of the region sits on coalfields stretching from the southwest to the northeast. Brown coal will in the future remain a significant economic factor and employer in the region.