New claims for unemployment benefits fell to a new four-year low in the United States last week, according to a government report. A separate report confirmed the American economy expanded at an annual rate of 3 percent late last year.


Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 359,000, the lowest level since April 2008, the Labor Department said Thursday.


The report included revisions for claims data from 2007 based on updated seasonal adjustment calculations. New seasonal adjustment factors were also introduced for 2012.


The prior week's figure was revised up to 364,000 from the previously reported 348,000. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a reading of 350,000 for last week.


The four-week moving average, a better measure of labor market trends, declined 3,500 to 365,000.


A total of 7.153 million people claimed unemployment benefits during the week ended March 10, down 131,488 from the prior week.


The Commerce Department, meanwhile, said the economy expanded as expected in the fourth quarter. while personal income grew at a much faster pace than previously thought, which should help underpin spending this quarter.


Gross domestic product increased at a 3 percent annual rate in the final three months of 2011, the quickest pace since the second quarter of 2010, the Commerce Department said in its final estimate on Thursday, unrevised from last month's estimate.


That was in line with economists' expectations. The economy grew at a 1.8 percent rate in the third quarter.


However, personal income was $13.162 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, $3.3 billion more than previously reported. Disposable income was $10.6 billion more than previously thought, probably reflecting the strengthening labor market.


Gross domestic income, which measures output from the income side, increased at a 4.4 percent rate - the fastest since the first quarter of 2010 - from a 2.6 percent rise in the third quarter.


The department also said after-tax profits increased at a 1.1 percent rate, slowing from 2.7 percent the prior quarter. The slowdown in profits reflected the increase in wage costs as companies stepped up hiring.