Hawaiçi’s unemployment trust fund is projected to plunge into insolvency by the end of next year because the state is paying out more in jobless benefits than it is collecting in unemployment taxes from employers.

The state said it is taking steps to remedy the situation through higher unemployment tax assessments that will start next April and a loan it will seek from the federal government next year.
“We’ll be insolvent, but we won’t be bankrupt,” said Darwin Ching, director of the State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, explaining the state has a plan to nurse the fund back to solvency in 2011.
He said benefits paid to the unemployed will be unaffected by the situation though employers will face a steep increase in unemployment assessments.