As promised in my last post, here is a preview of the 2016–17 data from the BSQ Employment Module’s MBA CSEA sections:
Table 1. MBA Graduates’ Starting Salaries by Professional Function
|
Professional Function |
N of Schools Reporting |
N of Graduates Reporting |
Weighted Average Salary (USD) |
|
Consulting |
75 |
2,001 |
$123,720 |
|
Finance/Accounting |
90 |
1,934 |
$114,064 |
|
General Management |
62 |
740 |
$107,396 |
|
Marketing/Sales |
82 |
1,366 |
$102,844 |
|
Information Technology |
25 |
112 |
$97,699 |
|
Other |
59 |
416 |
$97,270 |
|
Operations/Logistics |
70 |
558 |
$95,915 |
|
Human Resources |
12 |
38 |
$83,952 |
Source: 2016–17 BSQ Employment Module—MBA CSEA Sections. Notes: All salary data represent weighted averages, based on the number of MBA graduates reporting salaries in each category.
As compared to the same data from the previous year’s survey, the number of schools reporting graduates in each function rose across the board, likely due to the fact that nearly 22 percent more schools completed the MBA CSEA sections of the survey in 2016–17 than in the previous year. However, the breakdown of professional functions has a very different configuration in terms of average salaries and numbers of graduates.
Table 2. Percentage Change From 2015–16 to 2016–17
|
Professional Function |
N of Schools Reporting |
N of Graduates Reporting |
Weighted Average Salary (USD) |
|
Information Technology |
8.7% |
16.7% |
6.2% |
|
Marketing/Sales |
10.8% |
12.2% |
2.4% |
|
Finance/Accounting |
23.3% |
3.0% |
1.2% |
|
Consulting |
5.6% |
-1.5% |
1.1% |
|
General Management |
12.7% |
5.6% |
0.1% |
|
Operations/Logistics |
32.1% |
18.5% |
-1.2% |
|
Other |
18.0% |
-14.9% |
-3.7% |
|
Human Resources |
20.0% |
31.0% |
-12.0% |
Source: BSQ Employment Module—MBA CSEA Sections.
As you can see, the least significant changes over last year in the average salaries and numbers of graduates reporting accepting positions occurred in the top three professional functions by average salary (Consulting, Finance/Accounting, and General Management). The most significant changes generally occurred within the fields with the fewest graduates reporting accepted positions. IT, for example, has seen a significant boost in both areas over last year, while the average HR starting salary saw an even more precipitous decline. Of course, it makes sense that the functions with the fewest graduates reporting accepted positions would have more significant changes, due simply to the smaller sample size, but it makes me wonder whether that is the only factor, or whether it is also reflective of general industry trends.
The data from the 2016–17 BSQ Employment Module’s MBA CSEA sections is now available to participating schools within our DataDirect system.
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