Seventy-five percent of employers plan to hire MBAs in 2013, up from 71 percent that hired MBAs in 2012, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council 2013 corporate recruiters survey. 

The proportion of employers planning to hire other types of business school graduates is up from last year for master in management, master of accounting, master of finance, as well as other specialized business master’s.

Other findings include:

• U.S. employers expect to pay new MBAs a median salary of $95,000, up from $90,000 last year, although salaries vary substantially by region of work. This represents a $43,000 premium compared with the earnings for bachelor’s degree-holders among U.S. employers.
• Employers worldwide expect to hire an average of 14.6 new MBAs, up from the 11.4 they hired last year.
• Sectors in which more employers worldwide plan to hire MBAs this year than in 2012 include: energy/utilities (86 percent, up from 69 percent in 2012); healthcare (89 percent, up from 77 percent in 2012); and consulting (79 percent, up from 69 percent in 2012).

The 2013 global management education graduate survey, a companion student exit survey, found that 60 percent of those seeking jobs had at least one offer in February or March, compared to 62 percent for class of 2012. 

Job-related findings from that survey include:

•  Although fewer full-time two-year MBAs had early job offers this year than last (61 percent, compared with 64 percent last year), the percentage of master of accounting graduates with job offers was 76 percent, up from 65 percent surveyed last year.
• Fifty-four percent of graduates searching for jobs in the finance/accounting industry had offers, down from 61 percent last year.
• More career-switching graduates are entering the consulting, healthcare and energy/utilities fields than leaving. By contrast, more career-switching graduates are leaving the products and services, manufacturing, nonprofit/government and technology sectors than entering them.

The Graduate Management Admission Council, the European Foundation for Management Development and the MBA Career Services Council surveyed 935 employers in 50 countries for the corporate recruiters survey; 53 percent of respondents were from the United States. The 2013 global management education graduate survey included 5,331 graduating students attending 159 universities in 33 countries.