According to the statistics released by the Labor Department on Wednesday, the jobless rates, in all the 372 metropolitan areas that the Department tracks in the US, increased in April - marking the fourth rise in the jobless rates in a row!

Despite the recession showing some signs of easing, the Labor Department data indicates that the April unemployment rate in 93 metropolitan areas showed an increase of at least 10 percent. Furthermore, nine out of the 13 metropolitan areas with unemployment rates of at least 15 percent happened to be in California.

Speaking for specific areas, California's city of El Centro had the highest jobless rate in the country at 26.9 percent. Others with high rates include Indiana's Elkhart-Goshen with increase to 17.8 percent, leaping 12.7 percentage points from the year back figures; Bend, Ore., with the rate soaring to 15.6 percent, up 9 percentage points; and North Carolina's Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton region with a rise to 14.9 percent, up 8.8 percentage points.

Noting that the weak labor market has taken its toll on such areas in particular which are centers of many industries and large housing markets, economist Mark Vitner, of Wachovia, mentioned that factories slashed production as businesses cut supplies of goods due to weakened customer demand.

Vitner said: "Municipal governments are strapped and have cut back. Retailers have closed shop. Problems have multiplied."