WASHINGTON: New claims for US unemployment benefits fell slightly the previous week but were higher than expected, government data showed on Thursday.

The seasonally-adjusted number of jobless claims in the week ending October 24 was 530,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 531,000, the Labour Department.

It was higher than the 525,000 forecast by most economists.

The four-week moving average, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, was 526,250, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 532,250.

The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits fell.

The Labour Department's figures showed the number of seasonally-adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending October 17 was 5.797 million, a decrease of 148,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 5.945 million.

The weekly report offers an up-to-date snapshot of the job market, critical to sustained US economic growth after prolonged recession.

The government announced on Thursday that after a year of contraction, the US economy grew at a seasonally-adjusted annualised 3.5 percent in the third quarter - the strongest expansion since the 2007 third quarter, when a home mortgage crisis triggered a global financial crisis that hammered the world economy.

The 2009 third-quarter growth was much better than the 3.2 percent rate expected by most analysts.

Unemployment remains a key hurdle to sustained recovery, with latest monthly figures in September pushing the jobless rate to a new 26-year high of 9.8 percent with job losses accelerating to 263,000.

Since the start of the recession nearly two years ago, the number of unemployed has increased by 7.6 million to 15.1 million. - AFP/de