The unemployment rate continued to rise last month, according to figures released this week by the Louisiana Workforce Commission.

Richland Parish’s unemployment rate rose more than a point from 8.6 percent in April to 9.7 percent in May. This is almost double the rate of 5 percent recorded in May 2008.

This translates into 891 people looking for work in Richland Parish this month as opposed to 777 last month and 438 a year ago.

The number of people employed in Richland Parish in May was 8,272, which is actually slightly higher than the 8,229 employed in April. A year ago, 8,386 people were working in the parish.

Lafourche Parish had the lowest unemployment rate of 4.2 percent last month while West Carroll Parish had the highest rate at 15.6 percent.

Louisiana’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May 2009 was 6.6 percent, up from the April 2009 revised rate of 6.2 percent and the year-ago figure of 4.1 percent. The May unemployment rate ranked Louisiana as the 11th lowest in

the nation. The May 2009 unemployment rate for the United States was 9.4 percent, up from the April rate of 8.9 percent.

Louisiana’s civilian labor force – the number of people working or looking for work – for May was 2,069,048, down from the April revised figure of 2,074,281.

The number of employed in May was 1,932,905, down from 1,946,353 in April. The number of unemployed in Louisiana in May 2009 rose to 136,143 from 127,928 in April. Civilian labor force statistics are estimated from a sample survey by place of residence.

“Our unemployment rate continues to be the envy of most other states in the South and the country,” LWC Executive Director Tim Barfield said. “But too many of our people are out of work because of what’s happening with the economy across the country, and we’re using all of our resources as well as additional stimulus dollars to help employ and train them.”