More and more MBA grads are struggling to find a job

More and more graduates from some of the top business schools are having trouble finding a job after obtaining their degree, per a new WSJ report. Apparently these days, it's harder for an MBA grad to find a job than beat Will Hunting in a barroom debate.

• At Harvard Business School, 20% of job-seeking 2023 MBA graduates didn’t have one three months after graduation, up from 8% in 2021.
• At Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, 18% didn’t, compared with 9% in 2021.
• ~13% of 2023 grads of MIT’s Sloan School of Management didn’t have a job within three months, up from ~5% in 2021.

Big picture: Getting an MBA can be expensive – upwards of $200,000 at a top school – but typically pays off as a launchpad for a new, more lucrative career or the corporate leadership fast track, per the WSJ.

And those actually getting hired are having that experience. Median starting salaries for Stanford MBA grads increased to $182,500, up from $175,000 the year before, in addition to rising to $175,000 at several other schools.

But there are also limiting factors in play. New biz school grads are entering the jobs market at a time when three industries that heavily recruit them – consulting, tech, and finance – have run into trouble and put the brakes on hiring.