Hawaii’s unemployment rate crept up to 7.2 percent in August, as the state’s economic downturn sliced into jobs and more residents joined the ranks of the unemployed.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics today reported 46,000 people went unemployed last month as joblessness rose from July’s 7.0 percent rate.
The report comes a day after the state said the unemployment trust fund is headed for insolvency and that a hike in unemployment taxes along with a federal loan would be needed. More benefits are being paid out than what is being collected in taxes.
The economic turbulence has cut into jobs with the state’s unemployment rate lingering around the 7 percent range, rates not seen in three decades.
August's rate grew from 4.2 percent a year earlier and compared to this August’s national rate of 9.7 percent..
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported jobless rates increased in all 50 states compared to August 2008.
Michigan has the highest jobless rate at 15.2 percent, followed by Nevada at 13.2 percent, Rhode Island at 12.8 percent, and California and Oregon at 12.2 percent each.
The jobless rates in California, Nevada and Rhode Island were the highest on records dating to 1976.