There are no jobs out there. I am unemployed and the job listings are the same virtually from week to week.
And I recently had an interview where I was 1 of 14 interviewed. Do not even want to know how many applied for the 1 position. Must have been 200.
With all respect and this is not intended to be taken as a personal slight, your handle of ``Red in Blue PA'' is telling. You're simply in the wrong state.
And I can speak from experience having been born in Pennsylvania and then opting to leave due to big labor, big taxes, big government under the thumb of Democrat control and an anti-business climate. If there's any way you can relocate to a right-to-work state, I have every confidence you'll find a fulfilling means of employment. And you'll be able to become ``Red in Red OK'', ``Red in Red AL'' or maybe ``Red in Red TX''.
So long as Pennsylvania remains closed shop, pro-union and anti-growth, it will remain like much of the rest of the Rust Belt. I hate to say it (and I'm sure your an exception), a large number of Pennsylvanians have a sense of entitlement instead of a go-hung entrepreneurial bent.
And the weather is generally gloomy on top of all that. :-) I simply have no desire to ever go back.