The report identifies structural changes and trends in the composition of the nonmetro labor force between 1973 and 1979; evaluates the labor force performance by race, sex, and age; and suggests underlying causes of the major changes and the likelihood of particular trends continuing into the eighties. Tabular data indicate that: (1) metro and nonmetro areas experienced similar employment growth rates between 1973 and 1979, but nonmetro residents continued to have lower labor force participation rates; (2) nonmetro employment growth was concentrated in nonteaching, white-collar professional and technical occupations, white-collar clerical jobs, blue-collar craft jobs, and service occupations; (3) the proportion of women who worked increased dramatically, raising their share of total employment to almost 42%, but nonmetro women did not share equally in this change; (4) in both metro and nonmetro areas, black and other minority populations showed little improvement in their labor force status, with their unemployment rate remaining about double that for whites; (5) nonmetro teens increased their labor force participation rate, with white women accounting for four-fifths of nonmetro teen employment growth; and (6) older nonmetro residents had low unemployment rates and maintained a higher labor force participation rate than their metro counterparts. (NEC)