No decisions have been made yet, but Hawai'i's 36,000 government employees will have to make sacrifices to help the government cope during these tough economic times, Gov. Linda Lingle said.

Among the options being considered is having state workers take one day off per month without pay to help the state deal with steep budget shortfalls.

"I do think the issue of furloughs are going to be discussed with legislators. This is the process. We would ask employees to take one day a month off for example. So they wouldn't be paid for that one day," Lingle told KITV last week.

Each day without paying state workers saves $8 million, state officials said.

The Council on Revenues announced Friday that the state needs to save $125 million more by July, in addition to $221 million already cut by the governor.

Furloughs would avoid layoffs, but they also represent a temporary 5 percent pay cut.

Lingle's administration also wants state workers to abandon efforts to seek raises this year, and she's thinking about asking them to pay for a larger share of their health insurance costs. Currently, the state pays 60 percent and the employees pay 40 percent, although changes would have to be negotiated with employee unions.

Human Resources Director Marie Laderta confirmed that furloughs are a possibility.

"The administration is considering all available options for cost containment, but those decisions haven't been made yet," she said.

House Finance Chairman Marcus Oshiro, D-39th (Wahiawa, Whitmore Village, Poamoho), said he is hopeful job losses can be avoided. "I would like to encourage the public-sector unions to work with us so we can avoid any layoffs," he said.

Senate Democrats say they would look at other forms of revenue generation before considering raising taxes.

"One thing comes to mind, obviously, and people have been asking me, 'Well, what about gaming?' " said Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairwoman Donna Mercado Kim, D-14th (Kalihi Valley-Halawa).

"Everything is on the table, so we have to take a strong, hard look at some of these things," she said.