Jennifer, as for PDF files that JAWS reports as empty or blank but the
file size is not 0, you can use the Convenient OCR feature in JAWS to
reveal the text within the PDF as follows:

assuming you have Adobe's Reader DC installed, press enter on the PDF file.

press insert+spacebar to switch to the layered command structure, this
will sound a blip, then press o for the OCR command and d for document.
after a few seconds, up to 60 seconds or more to process the image of
the PDF.
after it is done, you can read and copy/paste the text as if it were
converted into a regular document. when finished, press escape or alt+f4
to close the processed document and alt+f4 to close Reader DC.

hth