TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s unemployment rate stood at 3.1% in January, unchanged from a revised December rate, as the workforce continues to grow, state officials said Monday.

The rate for the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford area was at 3.2%.

The Florida Department of Commerce estimated 340,000 Floridians were out of work in January, 1,000 more than in December and an increase of 37,000 from a year earlier. At the same time, a labor force of 11.077 million in January was up by 16,000 from December and 243,000 from a year earlier. The unemployment rate in January 2023 was 2.8%.

Jimmy Heckman, the Department of Commerce’s chief of workforce statistics and economic research, said demand for labor is keeping the unemployment rate low, with more than one job opening per unemployed person.

“Population growth leads to both a growing labor force and to growing demand for goods and services. That creates a lot of opportunities throughout the state,” Heckman said. “Every major sector in Florida added jobs over the month in January. Nine out of 10 of those sectors, especially the leisure and hospitality and retail-trade sectors, have added jobs over the past year.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office issued a news release Monday that said the new data indicates “economic stability and confidence among Florida’s workforce.”

“Florida has started off the year strong by growing jobs at twice the national average,” DeSantis said in a prepared statement.

Over the past year, the state’s labor force has grown by 2.2% compared to 0.8% nationally, the report said. The national unemployment rate in January was 3.7%.

The state’s metropolitan statistical area with the lowest unemployment rate in January was the region including Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, at 2.4%.

Among other parts of the state, the Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island area was at 3%; the Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater areas were at 3.3%; and the Pensacola and Gainesville areas were at 3.4%.