As the U.S. economy shows glimmers of improvement, there is not much even a city of 4 million people can do to take advantage of it quickly. Los Angeles, the second-largest U.S. city, has a jobless rate of 13.9 percent. Like other big U.S. cities, it has few tools to spur jobs as the economy picks up again. "This could be a two-year, jobless recovery," Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Larry Frank told Reuters.