Florida’s unemployment rate held at 3.6 percent in March, unchanged from the previous month but still lower than the national rate, which ticked up to 4.2 percent, according to state labor figures released Friday.

Roughly 403,000 Floridians were unemployed last month out of a labor force of just over 11.1 million, according to FloridaCommerce. The rate is up 0.4 percentage points from a year earlier, when 359,000 residents were out of work.

The state’s economy added 18,100 jobs in March, bringing Florida’s seasonally adjusted nonagricultural employment total to 10.05 million. Over the year, employment grew by 135,000 jobs, a 1.4 percent increase that slightly outpaced national growth of 1.2 percent.

Education and health services posted the largest annual gains, adding 42,000 jobs, followed by trade, transportation, and utilities, which grew by 24,600 positions. Government employment increased by 21,400, including nearly 12,000 new jobs at the local level. Construction added 11,400 jobs, and the professional and business services sector rose by 10,500. Financial activities and manufacturing added 6,200 and 5,700 jobs, respectively. The “other services” category grew by 10,800 jobs, marking the fastest rate of any sector at 2.9 percent.

Leisure and hospitality added 1,400 jobs over the year, while the information sector increased by 1,000.

Among the state’s 25 metro areas, 21 posted year-over-year job gains. The Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford area led the state with 30,100 new jobs, followed by the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall division with 21,200, and the Tampa metropolitan division with 14,600.

Four metro areas reported losses, including Cape Coral-Fort Myers (-2,200), Naples-Marco Island (-1,500), Sebastian-Vero Beach (-400), and Punta Gorda (-200).

Unemployment rates varied across the state. Monroe County recorded the lowest rate at 2.4 percent, followed by Miami-Dade County at 2.8 percent and Wakulla County at 3.0 percent. Taylor County had the highest unemployment rate at 6.1 percent, followed by Sumter at 5.8 percent and Hamilton at 5.3 percent.

Nationally, 7.1 million people were unemployed last month out of a labor force of 170.6 million, up from 6.5 million jobless individuals one year earlier.