Moving to PA from MD (Philadelphia, Reading: day care, homes, find a job)

[frad76]

Hello,
My husband recently took a job in Reading, PA and we are now faced with the task of relocating to PA from MD. We are a young family with 3kids ages 6, 5 and 2; so an area with good school system is important. I am also actively in search of employment opportunities; I have been looking in the Philadelphia area as well as Mechanicsburg, Reading, King of Prussia and Coatsville, but no luck. My background is in Design and Construction; I have extended experience working in both govt. and private organizations. I currently work as a Contractor with the Dept. of Navy as a Facilities/Project Manager. Job Leads/ links would also be highly appreciated.

In short, our goal is to find an area that has:
- good school system
- reasonable commute to Reading
- good job opportunities
- diverse oppoortunity for sports and outdoor activities
- groceries and retail

Opinions and suggestions would be most helpful.

Thanks.

[sr1234]

I hope you are fluent in Spanish. If not, then start enrolling the kids now in language classes.

[frad76]

Lol. No I (We are) am not. Do you have any other comment and may I ask why the spanish class?

[Jeanie Beanie]

Frad76 is referring to the fact that the city of Reading is majority hispanic. I work in downtown Reading and it really isn't so bad. It has some very rough sections, but the downtown is fine for going to a concert or hockey game or art gallery or fine dining; living downtown - eh - most areas not family friendly.

HOWEVER, the suburbs are outstanding! Some great school systems in Berks County (Wyomissing School District just got mentioned in the U.S. News high school ranking issue) and great sports (Chad Henne and John Gilmore just held a football clinic at their high school - Wilson). The county has free swimming, fishing and boating at 2500 acre Blue Marsh Lake outside Bernville. There are bicycling trails that take you from Hamburg to Philadelphia, the Apalachian Trail cuts through northern Berks county above Hamburg and there are mountains and farms aplenty, yet Philadelphia and Harrisburg are only about an hour away. Plenty of grocery stores and shopping centers! Very family friendly and if you're coming from the DC metro area of MD you'll be shocked at how far your money goes.

Can't suggest any facilities/project manager jobs, but Pennsylvania is adding more jobs since the recession than any state other than Texas. So (fingers crossed) things will be turning around soon.

Welcome to Pennsylvania!

[ki0eh]

Lebanon VA hospital is expanding, they might have PMish jobs up on usajobs soon if not already.

Mechanicsburg (Navy) and New Cumberland (DLA) would be a long drive to be intercommutable with Reading but maybe doable if you're looking to live in Ephrata or north of Manheim, say Cornwall which has much new development in the area. US 422 is slow, slow, slow and 322 gets slow too - say, Hershey to Reading might look like a normal commute to folks from outside the area, but the roads are too slow so it's well over an hour each way.

[frad76]

Thank you, Jeanie
All the comments/tips are well appreciated, because this has been a most overwhelming experience! I will definitely look into the Lebanon VA hospital expansion, Ki0eh. I actually tried to apply for positions in Mech. since I work with Dept of Navy now, nothing available presently just keep at it I guess. I also tried to find govt jobs in Philly but the requirement is that the employee must establish residence within 6mths of being hired.
Additional posts are most welcome.

[KoobleKar]

I don't know if it's the same in MD, but Pennsylvania has no tax on necessities...such as clothing, grocery items, soap, etc.

Reading also has quite a few factory outlets for clothing and such.

[frad76]

Now that I did not know, everything is taxable in MD

[Honest Bob]

I think that you should have stayed where you were at.

There is very little job opportunities in Pennsylvania.

As a matter of fact, the local papers has shown a across the board loss of jobs in most every county over the past month, and that does not include the number of high school and college graduates that has been injected into the workforce that is unwilling or unable to find a job right now.

The real unemployment rate in Pennsylvania is somewhere around 20%.

As a matter of fact, things are so bad in some places that the government is paying adults with kids at home to work at rest homes and day care centers and for public parks and such to cut grass and do landscaping - just to put a couple of dollars in their pockets.

Now if a person has kids at home - great. But if you are single with no children - even that program doesn't help.

So what I am saying is that things are not getting better - they are getting worse and the government is running out of money and it doesn't look like they are going to sign a budget anytime soon - which means even more people might be getting laid off in the future.

I wouldn't live in any of those towns that you were looking at - even if you paid me. They sound like those gun and knife clubs I drank in when I was a kid. Where when you walked in the door, if you didn't have a gun or a knife - they lent you one.

[toobusytoday]

Jobs are hard to find everywhere but according to recent reports, Pennsylvania added 19,500 jobs in May, Rendell says | PennLive.com we're doing better then most states.