New claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell sharply last week to a four-year low, which was seen as a fresh sign of improvement in the country's troubled job market.

The Labor Department said Thursday that the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for jobless benefits was 351,000 in the week ending March 10, a drop of 14,000 from the previous week's revised figure.

In addition, the four-week moving average, which helps iron out weekly fluctuation, kept unchanged at 355,750.

Initial jobless claims have declined 14 percent since October.

The advance figure for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 3 was 3.343 million, a decrease of 81,000 from one week earlier.

The U.S. Commerce Department recently revised the economic growth rate upwardly to an annual rate of 3 percent in the fourth quarter. A stronger economy has supported labor market recovery. On average, 245,000 jobs were added per month from December to February.

However, the country's job market has a long way to go before it fully recovers from the recession, and the current 8.3 percent unemployment is still painfully high.