MBA Employment Statistics - Booth 1999 to 2024
Just some actual data to discuss. I downloaded Booth's employment report excel files and made a quick graph to show the utility of the MBA over time. There are three dips since 1999: the dot com bubble, the great recession, and present. The dot com bubble and great recession hiring trends recovered in three years. I'd guess the current trend will recover after a couple more years.
An actual trend to note that appeared alarming was the amount of students not seeking employment. In 2024, only 81.3% of students were listed as seeking employment. However when you examine the data you can see that 10.4% of that 18.7% not seeking employment are only in that category because they're sponsored by an employer they will be returning to. But you can't make fearmongering stories or podcast speculations out of that, so it doesn't matter.
My guess, not that it matters, is that MBA hiring will recover within 2 years, as that's what has happened in the past. I'm only basing my guesstimate off of historical data. Nobody really knows what the future has in store for us.
I don't think it should surprise anyone that these podcasts and news articles from WSJ and Forbes and others are designed to be controversial and to maximize engagement. Journalists apparently don't fuck with data analytics