Unemployment falls in three-quarters of US cities

WASHINGTON – Unemployment rates are falling in most metro areas across the country, suggesting that hiring is widespread and not limited to a few healthy regions.

The Labor Department says more than three-quarters of the nation's 372 largest metro areas reported lower unemployment rates in February than the previous month. That's the most to report a decline since September.

More than 300 cities have seen their unemployment rates decline in the past year, the best showing since the recession ended in June 2009.

And more than 280 metro areas reported job gains in the past year, also the most since the recession ended.

Nationwide, private employers added more than 200,000 jobs in both February and March, the best two-month pace since 2006. The local data is one month behind the national figures.