NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - New weekly claims for jobless benefits in the United States rose a bit last week, the government said Thursday, as the labor market's recovery from the loss of more than 1.5 million jobs last year continued to progress slowly.

The Labor Department said the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose to 388,000 in the week ended Aug. 10 from a revised 382,000 the prior week. Economists, on average, expected 380,000 new claims, according to Briefing.com.

The jobless claims data follow the Labor Department's report earlier this month that the nation's unemployment rate held steady at 5.9 percent in July, while employers added just 6,000 new jobs.

U.S. businesses cut more than 1.5 million jobs during a recession that began in March 2001 and lately have been able to get more production out of fewer workers, making them reluctant to increase hiring until they see a need to greatly expand production.

In Thursday's report, the four-week moving average of new jobless claims, which smoothes out fluctuations in the weekly data, rose to 381,750 last week from a revised 380,500 the prior week.

Earlier this week, the Federal Reserve decided to leave its target for short-term interest rates alone, keeping borrowing costs low and encouraging consumers to spend despite the labor market problems; but it also warned that weak stock prices and concerns about corporate accounting could put the economy at risk of slumping further.