Workers' compensation costs in Hawai'i remained above the national average in 2003, although the rate of increase in the Islands was slower than the country as a whole, according to a study released yesterday by the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Hawai'i employers paid $1.57 per $100 of payroll for workers' comp costs in 2003, significantly more than the national average of $1.16 per $100 of payroll.

Hawai'i's workers' compensation payments grew by 2.6 percent to $274.9 million in 2003 from 2002, while payments for the rest of the country grew by 3.2 percent to $54.9 billion, according to the latest year for which national data are available.

"While it's encouraging that our costs for 2003 grew at a slower rate than the rest of the nation, it will continue to mean nothing as long as Hawai'i's employers continue to pay some of the highest costs in the nation," the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations said in a news release.

The Legislature last session killed several bills attempting to alter Hawai'i's workers' comp system and locked efforts by the director of the DLIR to implement administrative rules, which were touted as streamlining the process and getting injured employees back to work faster.