WASHINGTON – Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, and a private survey showed businesses stepped up hiring in August. The data sketched a brighter outlook for the job market one day before the government reports on August employment.

Weekly applications for unemployment benefits fell by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 365,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, ticked up to 371,250.

Unemployment benefit applications are a measure of the pace of layoffs. When they consistently fall below 375,000, it suggests that hiring is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.

Separately, payroll provider ADP said businesses added 201,000 jobs last month. That’s the most reported by the survey since March. ADP said July job growth was stronger than first thought: Employers created 173,000 jobs — 10,000 more than the group reported last month.

“The labor market is getting better and while the pace of improvement is nothing great, the direction is clear,” Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors, said in an email to clients.

Despite the positive signals, most economists tempered their expectations for August payroll growth.

The ADP survey only covers hiring in the private sector and excludes government job growth. The Labor Department’s report Friday will offer a more complete picture. The two surveys reported roughly the same private-sector job creation in July. But they have diverged sharply in previous months.

And the drop in applications likely won’t affect the August jobs report, due to be released Friday. The data for that report were compiled three weeks ago. But it could signal better hiring in September.

Economists forecast that employers added 135,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate is expected to stay unchanged at 8.3 percent.