NEW BEDFORD, Mass.--The people of New Bedford like to say their town used to be the richest in the world.

In the early 19th century a profitable whaling industry filled the city with wealthy Yankee ship captains. But when the discovery of new oil sources rendered whaling obsolete, New Bed-ford turned to textile manufacturing to preserve its prosperity.

Today, all that is gone.

Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS). Of the Bay State's 13 metropolitan areas with a year-round population, New Bedford claimed the highest unemployment rate--11.3 percent.

The next highest was Fall River-New Bedford's neighbor to the west--with 7.3 percent.

The average rate of unemployment in Massachusetts is 3.6 percent, well below the national average of 4.6.

The Boston area, which includes Cambridge and surrounding suburbs, was the state's lowest, with 3.3 percent of the labor force unemployed.

Cambridge itself boasted a meager 2.1 percent.

With a history of high unemployment rates and a median household income of $22,647, New Bedford's city leaders were not shocked by this year's numbers.

"It wasn't a surprise," says George Rogers, who has been a New Bedford city councilor for 20 years and is a former mayor of the Whaling City.

"Typically New Bedford unemployment has ranked highly and that's something we've always worked on--the revitalization of the economy," he says.

The City Today

A walk through New Bedford's dingy downtown reveals extent of its decay.

Boarded-up store fronts, closed banks,five-and-dime shops and weather-beaten barsdominate the urban landscape.

City officials are trying to revitalize NewBedford by calling attention to landmarks withhistoric plaques and planting greenery in publicplazas.

But few New Bedford residents--and even fewertourists--seem to pay any attention to the historylessons from the glory days of whaling andtextiles.