Diesel consumption would be a better indicator of the economy.
‘Diesel consumption would be a better indicator of the economy’
Yes & no. Diesel would show the actual use of trucks and show the delivery of goods. But gas consumption shows the amount of driving a society is doing. A majority of driving is done to facilitate work. If you do not work, you rarely drive. Or at least you drive much less. Even unemployed people need to buy food and staples.
Most suburbanites drive an average of forty miles per day, 20 miles per day , 200 miles per week for work. With extra driving for picking up and dropping off kids, trips to shopping and the in laws you can expect to drive around 300-350 miles per week. Approximately 1 tank of gas per week. If two people in the household work, or the norm before 2009, two tanks per week per household.
Eliminate one worker per household, half the gas is used.
We KNOW there are 25 million people NOT working that USED to work. Eliminate 25 million jobs, eliminate 25 million tanks per week, 106.25 tanks per month. Average tank for 2010 sedan is 18.5 gallons. 165,625,000 gallons per month. or about 70,000,000 barrels of oil a month. On Average.
That adds up to lots and lots of extra gas and oil NOT being used here and surely being used in China and India.
Unemployed people don’t drive very often.