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The report showed that jobless claims fell to 512,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 532,000. Economists had been expecting jobless claims to edge down to 522,000 from the 530,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the bigger than expected decrease, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since claims came in at 488,000 in early January, the last time claims were below 500,000.
The Labor Department also said that the less volatile four-week moving average edged down to 523,750 from the previous week's revised average of 526,750.
Continuing claims, which measure the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment help, also declined in the week ended October 24th, the latest week for which the government has data.
The report showed that continuing claims fell to 5.749 million from the preceding week's revised level of 5.817 million. With the decrease, continuing claims fell to their lowest level since March.
However, the Labor Department also said that the number of people claiming emergency unemployment compensation (EUC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) benefits in the week ended October 17th rose by about 90,000 to 3.459 million. Those receiving extended benefits rose by about 25,000.
Peter Boockvar, equity strategist for Miller Tabak, said, "We are thus left with the same evidence that while the level of firings continue to moderate, finding new jobs are still tough and its why Congress is about to extend unemployment insurance for up to another 20 weeks."
The U.S. Senate voted 98-0 on Wednesday to approve legislation that will extend unemployment benefits by up to 20 weeks.
Under the bill, everyone will receive 14 weeks of additional benefits, and those living in states with unemployment greater than 8.5 percent will receive an additional six weeks on top of that.
The legislation now goes to the House, which passed a similar version of the bill in September that provided an additional 13 weeks of benefits in high-unemployment states. The House is expected to support the Senate's version and send it to President Barack Obama.
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