NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - New weekly claims for jobless benefits in the United States fell last week, the government said Thursday, but remained above the benchmark 400,000 level, as the labor market's recovery progressed slowly from heavy job cuts last year.

The Labor Department said the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell to 403,000 in the week ended Aug. 31 from an upwardly revised 411,000 the prior week. Economists, on average, expected 395,000 new claims, according to Briefing.com.

It was the second straight week in which the number of claims exceeded 400,000, a benchmark level indicating weakness in the labor market.

In a separate report, the Labor Department said it revised its reading of U.S. productivity growth in the second quarter to a 1.5 percent annual rate from an initial reading of 1.1 percent. Economists, on average, expected a reading of 1.1 percent, following an 8.6-percent growth rate in the first quarter, according to Briefing.com.

The jobless claims data helped push U.S. stock market futures lower, pointing to a negative opening on Wall Street. Treasury bond prices rose.

The four-week moving average of new jobless claims, which smoothes out fluctuations in the weekly data, rose to 400,000 last week -- the highest since June 8 -- from a revised 394,750 the prior week.

Continued claims, the number of people drawing benefits for more than a week, rose to 3.58 million in the week ended Aug. 24, the latest data available, from a revised 3.56 million the prior week.

The report comes a day before the Labor Department is expected to issue its report on August unemployment. According to Briefing.com, economists, on average, expect the unemployment rate to hold steady at 5.9 percent and for 30,000 new jobs to be added, following July's paltry 6,000.

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.