The private business sector added the most jobs in five months. (Waponi/Flickr)

The Labor Department said weekly applications for unemployment dropped by 12,000 with a seasonal adjustment to 365,000. The Washington Post said whenever applications consistently fall below 375,000 it signals hiring is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.

An ADP poll reported private business added 201,000 jobs, the most since March. The payroll provider also corrected July reports to reflect stronger job growth. The new total reaches 173,000 jobs created by employers, up 10,000 from the original reports.

Analysts expect the jobless rate for August to hold at 8.3 percent but could dip with the newest reports. The rate was based on previous predictions that only 125,000 jobs would be added to the economy.

More information on job outlook will be provided Friday when the Labor Department releases their official report, which includes government job growth.

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Reach Supervising Executive Producer Amanda Martinez here.