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American companies are currently hiring at the lowest rates since April 2020, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This challenging job market is affecting even graduates from prestigious business schools, making it increasingly difficult for them to secure employment.
A recent report from Bloomberg examined employment outcomes for top MBA programs across the United States, including Harvard Business School, Columbia Business School, MIT Sloan School of Management, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Stanford Graduate School of Business, the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. The findings revealed a decline in job placement rates in 2024 when compared to 2021.
For instance, at Harvard Business School, the percentage of MBA graduates without job offers three months post-graduation surged from 4% in 2021 to 15% in 2024. Similarly, the MIT Sloan School reported an increase from 4.1% to 15% during the same timeframe.
In terms of job offers, the situation at the University of Chicago’s Booth School has been particularly stark, with the percentage of graduates without offers rising nearly sixfold, from 2.3% in 2021 to 13.2% in 2024. Columbia Business School experienced a near doubling of this figure, moving from 6% to 11%. At Stanford, the rate tripled from 4% to 12%, while Northwestern saw an increase from 2.9% to 10.2%. Even the Wharton School, which previously had the lowest rate of graduates without job offers—only 1% in 2021—saw an increase to 6.9% in 2024.
Kristen Fitzpatrick, who leads career development and alumni relations at Harvard, commented in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that MBA graduates are not exempt from the pressures of the current labor market, emphasizing that attending a prestigious school does not guarantee job placement—”You have to have the skills,” she stated.
A full-time MBA program at a leading institution can exceed $250,000, according to MBA resource platform Poets and Quants. Despite this considerable investment, surveys conducted by the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) show that the median starting salary for MBA graduates at U.S. firms stood at $120,000 in 2024.
The drop in job placement rates can partly be attributed to shifts in industry hiring patterns. Over 70% of the 2022 graduates from elite programs like Harvard, Wharton, and Columbia were employed in finance, consulting, or technology—sectors that have recently reduced their MBA hiring quotas. For example, McKinsey’s hiring from the University of Chicago’s Booth School dropped from 71 students in 2023 to just 33 in 2024, as noted by The Journal. Other tech giants, including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, have also pulled back on their MBA hiring targets.
Moreover, as companies streamline operations and invest heavily in artificial intelligence, economists suggest that MBA hiring is likely to decrease further. Recent layoffs at firms such as Meta, Microsoft, and Google reflect ongoing cost reduction strategies in these major tech companies, coupled with significant investments in AI.
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