Leaving Pennsylvania to make ends meet

ERIE, Pa. -- A longtime resident of Erie, Pa., is making a hard decision in the name of making ends meet for his family.

Jim Stewart, 54, has lived in the town which has seen nearly 30,000 manufacturing jobs vanish since its peak in the 1950s.

Stewart was laid off a year ago from a well-paid position with GE. He’s now struggling to provide for his wife, daughter and 5-year-old grandson.

“I know people who bought houses six months before that, without knowing they were going to lose their jobs,” Stewart told CBS News’ Jamie Yuccas.

The unfortunate event prompted him to sign up for a course at the local Erie Institute of Technology where unemployed workers can learn new skills and prepare for a career change.

Stewart admits it has been more than 30 years since he’s stepped foot inside a classroom. But he said he knows he has to reinvent himself.

“If you would’ve asked me three years ago if I would ever go to school, I would’ve laughed at you,” Stewart says.

He is nearly graduated from the program that will allow him to become a heating and cooling specialist .

Stewart voted for President Trump in hopes that he would follow through with the promises he said on the campaign trail to bring jobs back to America.

“I think it’s our last chance because status quo wasn’t working with the way the Democrats were doing it,” Stewart says. “Election after election was just getting worse and worse.”

It is the frustration about providing for Stewart’s family that has him considering leaving Erie.

“I would’ve made less money after a year of schooling, for a skilled trade, than my daughter who works in a cellphone store,” he says. “Erie is a sinking ship and it would be crazy not to get off a ship that was sinking.”

Stewart is positive things will become better for the country, but for now he is having to weigh difficult decisions that will affect his family’s well-being.

Watch more of Jim Stewart’s story and others in a CBSN Original airing Mon., Feb., 27, 2017 at 8 p.m. ET. titled, “America - Manufacturing Hope.”