First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by more than expected in the week ended August 10th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, with jobless claims falling to their lowest level in over five years.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 320,000, a decrease of 15,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 335,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 330,000 from the 333,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the bigger than expected decrease, initial jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 316,000 in the week ended October 6, 2007.