Less Americans than expected filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week, indicating that job growth may be speeding up in the U.S and the job market may be improving.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Tuesday released its weekly jobs report, showing an increase of 12,000 new claims for unemployment benefits over the previous week's total, according to a Reuters report. The total number of new benefits claims last week was 293,000.

Many economists had a worse outlook on the labor market and expected the total number of new jobless claims to rise to 300,000. The lower-than-expected number of claims may indicate that September will be a solid month for the labor market.

"This week's report is in line with our outlook for continued solid improvement in labor markets," Barclays economist Jesse Hurwitz told The Wall Street Journal.

The four-week rolling average of new jobless claims also fell to 293,500, down 1,250 from the previous four-week average. Economists prefer to look at the average as it flattens week-to-week volatility in the market.

An analyst with the Labor Department reported there were no extenuating circumstances surrounding the jobs report, meaning it's a real -- if only slight -- improvement in the market.

U.S. jobless claims are hanging around right near pre-recession levels, showing that the market is strengthening even with the August plunge in job growth.

Thursday's jobs report showed that 7,000 more people than the previous week were still getting benefits after the first week of aid.

The total number of people with continuing claims are 2.4 million, down by 89,000 from August. The unemployment rate was 6.1 last month and this report suggests that the September jobless rate will be slightly better.

"The recent behavior of initial claims is consistent with solid job growth, and we expect an improvement in the September employment report," J.P. Morgan Chase economist Michael Feroli said.