Cushman & Wakefield is to slash 200 jobs in the US, as it faces a worsening economic climate.

The job cuts at the Italian owned property services firm are thought to include 20 jobs from its Chicago office, including real estate executive John Simon, and its land sales group in New York, which was led by Peter Block.

A spokesperson at Cushman and Wakefield’s New York office confirmed that there would be cuts but declined to give exact figures. He said: ‘To effectively address the current economic environment, we’re implementing a variety of measures to reduce expenses, including a restructuring that will result in the elimination of a small percentage of jobs.'

In September, Property Week Global revealed that Cushman had made a $67.3m (£37m) loss during the first six months of 2008. The New York based firm, which last year received 70% of its £2.1bn revenue from the US, said it had been ‘hurt’ by turmoil in the capital markets.