A depressed economy leads many to moonlighting

Many households resort to moonlighting when the weakened economy reduces household income. Snapshots of several households demonstrate how people moonlight and make difficult spending choices in order to keep food on the table and all of the bills paid. Statistics from staffing firms and the Bureau of Labor Statistics support the anecdotal information.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-06-23-moonlighting-workers-jobs-economy_N.htm

The articles lead is four sentences, much longer than the one sentence leads we have been trying to create. I would classify the lead as an alternative lead because it tells the story of one woman’s moonlighting rather than summarizing one or two aspects of the entire story.

The author wrote clearly and made effective use of quotes. Quotes from those moonlighting, representatives of staffing agencies, research firms, and job coaches demonstrate that the author examined moonlighting from a variety of points of view.

I can’t say that balanced reporting is relevant in this article as it doesn’t discuss any issues. The author demonstrates with quotes and statistics that moonlighing has become more prevalent and goes on to discuss various facets of moonlighting.

The article is organized in an interesting way – flipping from anectdoal household information to national level observations and back. I’m sure this could have been organized many different ways, but the readability of the article did not suffer from its organization.

The article is newsworthy. Readers learn how many families are dealing with reduced household income, namely, reducing expenditures and getting a second or even a third job. Information like this can give inspiration to households in similar straits.