VIDALIA &045; The unemployment rate has been steadily creeping up in Louisiana, according to state officials, and Concordia Parish has not escaped that trend.

Compared to July of last year, this July’s unemployment rate &045; the latest figure available &045; is up 3.5 percent to 14.4 percent.

State Labor Market Specialist Patty Lopez said the rate is on the rise throughout the state. Summer only accelerates that, with many students out of high school and college and looking for summer work and permanent jobs.

&uot;Rural areas have a lot harder time absorbing these people looking for summer jobs,&uot; Lopez said.

But many other factors also contribute to this raise in unemployment. For one, Lopez said the labor force has grown, but jobs are opening up at a slower rate than people applying for them.

The state’s unemployment rate rose to about 7.6 percent this July, Lopez said, compared to 6.2 percent the prior July.

The United States unemployment rate similarly saw an increase this July compared to last, rising to 6.3 percent compared to 5.9 percent last year.

Lopez said statewide, many major industrial sectors are employing less people.

Locally, Workforce Development Officer Linda Fisher of the Ferriday branch of the Department of Labor said the shutdown of International Paper’s Natchez mill has had an effect on the parish’s unemployment rate.

&uot;I do consider that a big factor of the unemployment rate, even in Louisiana,&uot; Lopez said. &uot;With International Paper shutting down, it is a domino effect. It affects other businesses.&uot;

Laid-off employees no longer have income to spend at other local businesses. &uot;It does factor in, and it does hurt,&uot; Lopez said.

Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland echoed the plant’s closing as one reason the rates are higher this July.

Since 120 of the 600-plus jobs lost in the closing are residents of Concordia Parish, &uot;that is going to cause our number to go up,&uot; Copeland said.

But officials of Concordia Parish and its towns are looking for ways to alleviate the unemployment rate, hoping to bring other businesses or industries into the parish.

Copeland said local officials are talking to two to three companies about locating in the parish, two of which he said he feels pretty good about.

And officials are using the area’s available labor force as a selling point to companies looking to locate in Concordia.

Copeland said local officials are still negotiating with Bollinger Shipyards on the possibility of locating a facility in Concordia Parish. Copeland also said he hopes to have an answer within the next few months on whether the company will locate in the parish.

The company hosted a job fair in March to scope out the local workforce.

&uot;We’re still talking to them and still working with the issues we discussed with them in the past,&uot; Copeland said.