First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by more than anticipated in the week ended April 6th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, with the data likely to offset some of the recent concerns about the labor market.

The report showed that initial jobless claims fell to 346,000, a decrease of 42,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 388,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to drop to 365,000 from the 385,000 originally reported for the previous week.