NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - People filing for initial jobless claims fell below 300,000 for the second time since October 2000, after the biggest single weekly drop in more than three years, the government said Thursday.

The Labor Department said that 296,000 people filed for unemployment benefits in the week ended April 16, down by 36,000 from previous week's revised number of 332,000.

The latest number was well below the 329,000 outlook of economists surveyed by Briefing.com

It marked the second week that initial jobless claims was below the 300,000 threshold since the week ended Oct. 21, 2000, and was the largest one-week drop since a 73,000 decline in early December 2001. The previous movement below 300,000 occurred the week of Feb. 5, 2005 (corrected, see below).

The 4-week moving average fell to 330,250, a drop of 8,500 from the previous week's revised average of 338,750.

A Department of Labor analyst said there were no special factors behind the decrease.

During the four boom hiring years before 2001, jobless claims were below 300,000 about one week out of three, with an average weekly total of about 309,000.

Since that time the jobless claims have risen as high as 523,000 for the week ended Sept. 29, 2001, in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, and have often been above 400,000 a week.

The number of people claiming insured unemployment benefits fell as well to 2,638,000 in the week ended April 9, the latest data available, from 2,655,000 in the prior week.

Those states which saw the largest increase in jobless claims for the week included California with 11,113, while North Carolina, Texas, Florida and Georgia rounded out the list. New Jersey led four other states in declines, pushing down its unemployment claims by 3,032. Wisconsin, Ohio, Kentucky and Missouri also experienced declines in unemployment claims.

Economists scrutinize jobless claims information for early readings on the strength of the labor market.

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-- An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated how long it has been since the last sub-300,000 reading. The corrected paragraph appears above. CNN/Money regrets the error.