The unemployment rate hit a 26-year high, reaching 9.7% in August.

That’s even more disappointing news considering that in July, the unemployment rate fell for the first time in 15 months. Perhaps the only bit of good news — if you can call it that — is employers cut fewer jobs in August than they did the month before.

The Labor Department said that August job cuts totaled 216,000. The industries hardest hit were manufacturing and construction, losing 50,000 and 65,000, respectively.

Looking forward, where do we go from here? What does the remainder of 2009 look like?

Will there be more cuts? When will things start to improve?

To get a national perspective into what’s taking place, here are some thoughts from several of the managing directors from global executive search firm Stanton Chase.