WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Signaling a slower pace of layoffs, the number of people who applied for new jobless benefits fell 15,000 to 320,000 in the week that ended Aug. 10, hitting the lowest level of initial claims since October 2007, according to government data released Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected a claims level of 333,000, matching an original estimate for the prior week. On Thursday, the government slightly revised the initial claims level to 335,000 for the week that ended Aug. 3. The average of new claims over the past month, a more reliable gauge than the volatile weekly number, fell 4,000 to 332,000, also reaching the lowest level since the weeks leading up to the start of the Great Recession. Also Thursday, the government reported that continuing claims dropped 54,000 to a seasonally adjusted 2.97 million in the week that ended Aug. 3. Continuing claims reflect the number of people already receiving benefits. The four-week average of continuing claims fell 38,500 to 2.99 million.