Hawaiian employers got a reprieve from a steep increase in unemployment tax rates.

Hawaiian Gov. Linda Lingle announced Thursday she signed a bill into law that will reduce the average unemployment insurance tax per employee to $630 in 2010. The state's average unemployment tax per worker had been slated to rise to $1,070 in 2010.

However, Hawaii's state unemployment taxes are still expected to increase in upcoming years. The average tax per employee will rise to more than $1,500 per employee by 2012, according to the governor's office.

Although Lingle signed the bill, she had backed different legislation that she said would have saved businesses more.

Unemployment insurance taxes averaged $90 per employee in 2008 and 2009, according to the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.