Hard hit in the beginning of the recession, Elkhart, Ind. - the so-called "RV capital of the world" - showed the biggest improvement, dropping to a 15.2% jobless rate last month from a 20.1% rate in March 2009.
Those numbers are in line with the national jobless picture, which has shown small improvement, or rather, "things don't appear to be getting worse," said Brian Hannon, an economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Labor Department's latest national report, released in early April, showed the U.S. economy gained 162,000 jobs in March, more than any other month in the last three years. The unemployment rate remained stubbornly high, holding steady at 9.7%.
Nevertheless, 28 metropolitan areas - including Elkhart - still reported severe unemployment rates at or above 15% in March.
Among the largest metropolitan areas, Detroit continued to report the highest jobless rate at 15.5%, up from 15.3% in February. Riverside, Calif. was second, as it has been for months, with a 15% unemployment rate, up from 14.8%.
New Orleans, Oklahoma City and Washington, D.C. had the lowest jobless rates of the big cities, all reporting rates below 7%.
El Centro, Calif., which is highly affected by seasonal agricultural jobs, posted the highest unemployment rate among all 372 metropolitam areas in the survey at 27%.
The Labor Department's Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment Summary breaks out unemployment rates by city and lags the nationwide jobs report by about a month.
The next national jobs report, showing April numbers, is scheduled for release on May 7.
First-time jobless claims in Tennessee dropUnemployment rises in 24 states
