The auto industry's woes burned through more Virginia jobs in May.

Jobless rates for all of Virginia's 10 metropolitan statistical areas, including the Blacksburg and Roanoke MSAs, increased from April to May, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.

Statewide, there were nearly 18,000 more unemployed people in May than there were in April.

The VEC reported that the increase in unemployment rates could be attributed, in part, to the continuing struggles of the auto industry and related effects on Virginia-based suppliers.

College graduates and students entering the job market also helped raise rates.

Predictably, the jobless rate increases this May were even more dramatic when compared with numbers recorded for May 2008.

Specifically, the Roanoke MSA's unemployment rate in May 2008 was 3.7 percent, compared with 7.5 percent this May. The Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford MSA's jobless rate in May 2008 was 3.9 percent, compared with 8.9 percent this year.

The Roanoke MSA includes the cities of Roanoke and Salem and the counties of Botetourt, Craig, Franklin and Roanoke. The Blacksburg MSA includes the city of Radford and the counties of Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski.

Martinsville, with a jobless rate of 21.9 percent, and Henry County, with a rate of 15.2 percent, had Virginia's two highest unemployment rates in May. The Danville MSA's jobless rate in May was 13 percent.

Although its communities are striving to diversify, Southside Virginia's economy has been long tied to manufacturing jobs in industries hard hit by foreign competition.