A Bit About Berks County, PA
Berks is an urban county situated in southeastern Pennsylvania. It is strategically located at the intersection of a dynamic market of economic, trade and industrial activities in the New York-Washington, D.C. corridor. This market includes Philadelphia, 56 miles to the southeast; Baltimore, 97 mites south; and New York, 125 miles northeast. Roughly diamond shaped, the county covers an 864 square-mile area.
The City of Reading is the county seat and the largest community in the county, with about 80,000 residents; the county as a whole has 343,000 residents, according to the 1990 census. The county has a growing population; it has increased by more than 13 percent since 1970... The median household income has more than tripled since 1970. Although the national trend is toward an older population, a sizable portion of Berks County's population remains in the 17 to 64 age range, which is the core of the work force.
Berks County's labor force at the end of 1993 was about 174,500 (annual average). Due to increased labor market participation by women and a larger working-age population, the local labor force has been growing faster than the general population. Split approximately 55 percent male, 45 percent female, the composition of the labor force resembles that of the state and the nation.
With about 25 percent of its nonagricultural wage and salary employment in manufacturing industries, the Reading Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is more industrialized than the state as a whole, where approximately 22 percent are employed in factories. For the nation, this percentage is roughly 17 percent. Locally, the long-term trend depicts strong growth in service-producing; employment; this sector's employment hovers near 104,500. Industrially diverse, Berks County's largest employer accounts for less than 2 percent of Berks' employment.
From "A Bit About Berks", Berks County Chamber of Commerce