TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s unemployment rate stayed at 2.7% in August for a second consecutive month.

For the Orlando, Kissimmee and Sanford region, the rate was 3.1%.

An estimated 303,000 Floridians qualified as unemployed in August, 8,000 more than in July, while the labor force grew by 41,000 to 11.12 million, the state Department of Commerce’s report said Friday.

Jimmy Heckman, the department’s chief of workforce statistics and economic research, said the numbers “signal a healthy labor market that continues to grow and attract new workers.”

The figures reflect conditions in mid-August before the Category 3 Hurricane Idalia made landfall Aug. 30 in Taylor County and caused widespread damage in rural North Florida.

The latest numbers were driven in part by education and health-services jobs, which increased by 6.3% over the past year, while positions in the leisure and hospitality sectors were up 3.5% during the same time.

Manufacturing jobs grew by 3.2%, while construction jobs were up 0.7% over the past year and went up by 500 from July to August.

“This is the third consecutive month of job growth for the construction sector after a series of job losses earlier in the year,” Heckman said.

Construction has been slowed this year by rising mortgage rates that have affected demand for new homes.

Florida also had a 2.7% unemployment rate in August 2022, when the workforce stood at 10.8 million.