Dubious Distinction

Reading, PA hit the New York Times this week. But not in a good way. The census has determined that out of nearly 600 cities with populations of over 65,000 Reading has the largest share of residents living below the poverty level. At roughly 41% that equates to over 36,000 people. How’s that for sad? Not to mention scary.

One of the largest contributing factors to this is Reading’s dwindling job market. Over the past few years several large employers have packed up and left the area. The powers-that-be deem the area’s lack of education a main cause for why other industries aren’t flocking in, snapping up all the empty manufacturing space that’s available.

There is likely something to that. The national average for people with high school diplomas is 85 percent. In Reading, that amount is only 63 percent. Nationally, 28 percent of the populace has bachelor’s degrees. That figure drops to 8 percent for Reading’s residents. Yes, I can see how that would impact the influx of new industry. Why put a stake in a plant in an area where there is less likelihood of recruiting a qualified workforce? Oh now don’t take that the wrong way. People here are most definitely trainable. If someone is willing to invest the time and money to do it.

There’s a local shelter that reports first-time homelessness is on the increase here. Of the 23 new entries into their facility in June and July of this year, 18 were homeless for the first time. Another cold, hard fact comes from the food bank. Four years ago, they gave out three and a half million pounds of food. The estimate with nearly three-quarters of this year in is six million pounds. In case you’re wondering the total population has only increased about ten percent during that time period.

I’m terribly sorry but I don’t have any answers, easy or otherwise for this mess we’re in. All I know is something has to change. Lots of things. Yes, I know I’ve picked on the city in the past and I’m sure I will in the future but honestly, it is a very pretty area and deserves a much better future than it currently seems slated to have.