The Premier, Nathan Rees, disclosed the forecast yesterday when giving details of his two-day job summit which begins today at the Convention Centre.

"We've got predictions out of the Federal Government authorities that unemployment is likely to rise by around 2 per cent over the course of the next 12 months from where it currently is in NSW," he said.

Mr Rees's comments were made on the same day Pacific Brands announced it would cut 1850 jobs nationwide, with about 520 in NSW. The news came hard on the heels of the collapse of the car-maker Drivetrain Systems International in Albury with the loss of 225 jobs. "We need to do everything we can to make sure we are protecting jobs and employment, wherever it might be," Mr Rees said.

"You're not going to prevent every job loss. What you can do is put industries in a position where they have confidence the Government is backing them."

Mr Rees did not rule out NSW moving away from maintaining its triple-A credit rating, saying he hoped he did not have to decide between maintaining the credit rating and creating jobs if the economy continued to deteriorate.

"We met with [credit ratings agency] Standard and Poors last week," Mr Rees said. "We're not in the position Queensland is in ? the NSW triple-A remains, and is secure at the present. That is what we want to maintain but I would hope it doesn't get to a choice between jobs and the triple-A."

Last week, Queensland lost its triple-A credit rating due to a large rise in its budget deficit to $1.6 billion. In November NSW forecast a 2008-09 budget deficit of $917 million. It reached $1 billion by the end of December and is likely to top $2 billion by June.

A number of the participants at today's job summit are already on the Government payroll, either as full-time public servants or paid advisers, sparking criticism over the limited private sector support.

The head of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, John Lee, is to chair the session on transport, logistics and storage. The Property Council will put forward proposals for a Building NSW Fund, overseen by the Co-ordinator General and aimed at encouraging private investment by unblocking infrastructure servicing bottlenecks.

It wants simplification of agency approvals, rezonings and infrastructure charging, and an audit of project applications to speed up their handling.

The NSW Business Chamber says that cutting red tape could save businesses more than $700 million and create jobs.

"Seventy per cent of businesses we have surveyed have been significantly or moderately impacted by red tape," the head of the NSW chamber, Kevin MacDonald, said.

"One in five business operators is spending more than 20 hours a week on compliance."