Diesel closed out Friday at $6.06 a gallon nationwide, the highest the fuel has ever averaged, after AAA's daily fuel tracker logged its third fresh milestone in just seven days. The climb caps six months of steady increases tied to the ongoing war between the United States and Iran. Regular gasoline is not far behind, averaging $4.30 a gallon nationally, up 13 cents in the past week alone.
Those numbers land hardest on people who earn their living behind the wheel. Latino workers are heavily concentrated in construction, trucking, landscaping and gig driving — jobs where a full tank isn't optional, and where record fuel costs eat directly into take-home pay rather than a company's overhead budget.
