The number of people seeking jobless benefits in the US has dropped to its lowest level since January, official figures show.

According to the statistics from the Labor Department, the number of officially unemployed Americans has fallen at a faster-than-expected rate over the past few weeks, adding to claims that the domestic economy is starting to rebound from its most marked downturn in decades.

At the same time, research has found that productivity in the US is also on the rise, with non-farm business labor productivity seen to rise by an annual rate of 9.5 per cent between July and September.

Welcoming the figures, some economic observers predicted that, with stocks now starting to climb again, employers could start taking on new staff over the coming weeks and months, with potentially tens of thousands of new jobs across a variety of sectors set to be created.

"Business investment spending and employment will be pushed higher in the next few months," Dean Maki, an economist with Barclays Capital in New York, told Bloomberg.

In October, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a headline rate of unemployment of 9.8 per cent.