Jobs and the cost of gasoline

What an interesting turn of events this has been over the last few months for the labor market and the energy market, the most recent evidence coming from these two adjacent headlines at the Associated Press on the subjects of holiday employment and gasoline prices.
During the summer, people with jobs were complaining that the price of gasoline was so high it was causing economic hardship. Here in the fall, the economic distress continues, but in a decidedly different way - mounting job losses have compelled more and more people to go driving around town looking for work with gasoline now as cheap as its been in years.