NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - New weekly claims for jobless benefits in the United States rose 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 403,000 in the week ended Aug. 24 from a revised 395,000 the prior week. Economists, on average, expected 385,000 new claims, according to Briefing.com.

It was the first week since July 6 in which the number of claims exceeded 400,000, a benchmark level indicating weakness in the labor market.

The four-week moving average of new jobless claims, which smoothes out fluctuations in the weekly data, rose to 392,750 last week from a revised 389,750 the prior week.

Continued claims, the number of people drawing benefits for more than a week, rose to 3.59 million in the week ended Aug. 17, the latest data available, from a revised 3.5 million the prior week.

Earlier this month, the Labor Department reported 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.