WASHINGTON - Unemployment in Fort Wayne and the other major cities in Indiana inched downward in April, the government said Wednesday.

About 300 more Fort Wayne-area residents had jobs in April than the previous month, bringing the unemployment rate to 9.7 percent. In March, it was 11.1 percent.

A year ago, unemployment in Fort Wayne was 5 percent. The year-to-year increase in unemployment was mirrored everywhere in the U.S.

The Labor Department said jobless rates were higher in April than a year earlier in all 372 metropolitan areas, including the 13 Hoosier communities that were measured.

It was the fourth month in a row that every U.S. metropolitan area had more people out of work than they did a year ago.

The April jobless rate in the Elkhart-Goshen area - hard-hit by the implosion of the recreational vehicle industry - was 17.8 percent, a slight decline from 18.9 percent in March but more than triple the 5.1 percent rate in April 2008.

It was the largest jobless rate increase from April 2008 of all U.S. cities, the government said.

The Labor department said 149 areas nationwide posted unemployment rates above the U.S. figure of 8.6 percent, including nine of Indiana's 13 metro areas.

Statewide, 24,500 more Hoosiers had jobs in April than in March, dropping the state unemployment rate to 9.9 percent from 10.6 the month before. But a year ago, 4.7 percent of Hoosiers were out of work.

sylviasmith@jg.net