For the second straight month, Hawai'i's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate hit a five-year high, rising in July to 3.9 percent, 1.3 percentage points higher than the same month last year.

Not since October 2003 has the state's jobless rate been at 3.9 percent. The last time the rate was at 4 percent or higher was in September 2003, according to figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Nationally, the seasonally adjusted rate in July was 5.7 percent, up from 5.5 percent in June and 4.7 percent in July 2007.

The summer has been a bad season for employees in Hawai'i as companies here and across the country have cut their payrolls as they struggle with the slumping economy. The major layoffs have come at Maui Land & Pineapple, at two hospitals on the Big Island and two on O'ahu, Sea Life Park, The Honolulu Advertiser, Bishop Museum, and the Ka'anapali Beach Club on Maui.

Many of the layoffs were announced in late July and earlier this month and won't be reflected in unemployment figures until August or later.

Colleen LeClair, labor department deputy director, acknowledged the rise in unemployment here, but said she was encouraged that the rate continues to be below the national level.

"Hawai'i's job numbers continue to reflect the effects of the external economic conditions on our economy," she said.

The state's seasonally adjusted labor force in July stood at 664,700, with 638,600 employed and 26,150 unemployed.

A year earlier, the state reported there were 630,550 employed and 17,050 unemployed for a workforce of 647,600.

In another measure of employment, seasonally adjusted non-agricultural jobs declined by 3,100 from June to July to 622,900, according to the labor department.

The job losses were in trade, transportation and utilities industries and were partially the result of additional staff being released with the departure of the NCL Pride of Aloha cruise ship in May, the state said.

The 3.9 percent jobless rate equaled a projection made by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism a week after Aloha and ATA airlines ceased operations last spring.

At that time, the unemployment rate stood at 3.2 percent, but the state said unemployment could hit 3.9 percent as a result of the job losses relating to the shutdowns.