Gasoline Price Close to Labor Day Record

With gasoline at its second-highest level for a Labor Day weekend, travel is forecast to be down about 2.5% this year, according to the automobile group AAA, the Associated Press reported.

Gasoline’s national average Thursday was $3.629 per gallon, and drivers will pay more this Labor Day weekend than in any other year except 2008, when it was t $3.686, after hitting a record high earlier that year, AP said.

Crude oil futures rose 12 cents Thursday to finish at $88.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest level in a month, Bloomberg reported.

Oil was down almost $2 Friday following the government’s unemployment report that showed stagnant job growth, Bloomberg said.