Longview Fibre Paper and Packaging Inc. will hire 16 to 20 new entry-level workers by mid-August — the first call to fill new jobs from the street in more than two years, a company official said Monday.

Fibre will accept applications through the WorkSource offices in Kelso and St. Helens, Ore., from Wednesday through July 22, said Kari White, the company’s recruiting and employment supervisor.

All the jobs are hourly labor, and White said she expects some of the positions to be filled by former Fibre workers who were laid off over the last 18 months.

“We’re really hoping that those folks would like to come back,” White said.

The union jobs would start at $11.77 per hour, then bump up to $19.11 per hour after six months, she said.

Fibre hired back 25 workers to replace retirees earlier this year. All but five or six had worked at the company before.

Fibre, which shed 40 percent of its workforce over the last two years, has credited a boost in sales this year for the recent increase in employment. The mill employs about 1,020 people, up from the roughly 1,000 employees at the beginning of the year. Fibre employed about 1,700 in 2007, when the company was bought by Toronto-based Brookfield Management Associates.

Orders for container board — used to make corrugated cardboard boxes — have jumped in the last four months, especially from California, according to the company. Fibre’s newest product, a stronger paper used for cement bags called Fibre Shield, is also selling well domestically.

The company is dipping its toes into markets in developing countries in Asia, Europe and Africa, where construction is expected to rebound more quickly and demand for paper products is expected to grow.