The Labor Department says the unemployment rate dropped in 339 metro areas in April. It rose in 20 cities and remained unchanged in 13. It was the most cities to see a decline in a year.
Many of the areas with the steepest declines are tourist destinations, such as Ocean City, N.J., where hotels and tourist attractions add workers for the summer season. The metro employment data isn't seasonally adjusted for such trends and as a result can be volatile from month to month.
Nationwide, the unemployment rate ticked up in April to 9 percent and employers added a net total of 244,000 jobs.
