Facing furloughs and pay cuts, more and more state workers in Hawaii are opting to retire.

The number of state and county workers retiring jumped 34 percent in 2009 compared with 2008, going to 2,270 from 1,689, according to figures from the state Employees' Retirement System. The vast majority of the retirees come from state payrolls.

Randy Perreira, the Hawaii Government Employees Association executive director, confirmed that state retirement numbers are soaring past normal levels.

“;The reason is simple: If you are at retirement age, you face less money and greatly increased medical insurance costs, so why work,”; Perreira said in an interview.

“;In many instances, it makes sense because of the money. In other instances, they are fed up with how things are going and with how the administration has gone about doing things,”; said Perreira, a critic of Gov. Linda Lingle.

Marie Laderta, state human resources director, declined to be interviewed for this article.

David Shimabukuro, administrator of the Employees' Retirement System, said there have also been older state workers retiring to save the jobs of younger workers facing layoffs.

Last month alone, 942 government workers retired, compared with 494 in December 2008, according to Shimabukuro.

State workers, who have seen pay cuts and about 700 layoffs from their ranks, are retiring at a faster clip than their county counterparts, who have yet to be hit hard by budget cutbacks.

The Big Island director of personnel, Ron Takahashi, who took over after his predecessor retired last year, said they have had a small increase in retirees, going from the average of 10 to 12 a year to 20 in 2009.

“;Mostly it had to do with the number of county workers in the baby-boomer generation. We foresaw this a couple of years ago,”; Takahashi said. “;We are losing all the senior workers with their knowledge, which is difficult, especially at a time when we are not filling all vacancies.”;

On Kauai, the number of retirees went to 32 last year from 13 in 2008, although Malcom Fernandez, Kauai personnel director, said retirement numbers fluctuate.

“;My word has always been, 'We are not encouraging you to retire.' We told them, 'We don't want you to retire,'”; Fernandez said.

But when workers “;reach the age of retirement, that's what they do,”; he noted. “;Everybody is looking forward to retirement and a time when you can just kick back.”;

Maui's personnel director, Lynn Gushiken Krieg, said retirement numbers were actually down last year, with 34 retiring in 2009 and 40 leaving in 2008.

But she cautioned that Maui workers are carefully watching both what the county does to trim costs and what the Legislature does to change benefits. She said 210 county workers eligible to retire have inquired about their benefits.

“;Right now, a lot more have left the state. We didn't institute furloughs, but we have to watch the impact of county finances, and if we have to institute furloughs next year that might encourage people to leave,”; Krieg said.

Honolulu's personnel director, Noel Ono, who is also taking the place of a longtime civil servant who retired, Ken Nakamatsu, said 169 county workers retired last year, compared with 173 in 2008 and 189 in 2007.

“;In general, the absence of retirees who were key employees with their respective departments will undoubtedly be felt,”; Ono said.

HGEA's Perreira added that the union, during negotiations, had actually urged the state to encourage workers to retire, because they would be replaced with less-senior workers, who would not have as large a salary.

“;There should be some cause for concern because of the need to retain expertise, but on a practical level we have advocated looking at early retirement because government needs to reduce costs and restrict,”; he said.