Initial jobless claims, a sign of the pace of layoffs, fell by 9,000 to 282,000 in the week to March 21, the Labor Department said.
The decline was stronger than expected; the consensus estimate was for claims to dip to 290,000 from the prior week's 291,000 number.
The Labor Department said there were no special factors impacting the data.
The four-week moving average fell by 7,750 to 297,000 last week. A year ago, the average was 319,250.
In February, the unemployment rate fell two tenths of a point to 5.5 percent, the lowest rate since May 2008, as the economy churned out another month of solid job growth.