MBA value is fluctuating in market
Business First of Buffalo - by Devan Stuart
M-B-A, three letters that can make a big difference in your career.
Maybe.
Eighty percent of top executives polled in a recent survey said that having a graduate degree in business is important to reach the top management level in most companies. Another 28 percent ranked an MBA as "very important," and 52 percent considered it "somewhat important."
The survey was developed by Accountemps, a temporary staffing service for accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals, and it included responses from some 150 executives within the nation's 1,000 largest companies.
"To me, it's (an MBA degree) the most valuable thing to have in your briefcase," said Ellen Lockamy, director of graduate business programs for Jacksonville University. "If you look at the Wall Street Journal or go into Monster.com, when you're talking about a director or above, you will see 'MBA required.'"
But today's tight labor market is forcing many employers to become more flexible in their hiring requirements. In January, America's unemployment rate fell to 4 percent -- the lowest since 3.9 percent in January 1970.
"Clients who in the past would have been absolutely adamant about (requiring an MBA in hiring) are seeing that the demand is high and the supply is low," said Melanie White, a manager for Robert Half International, the staffing firm that owns Accountemps.
Most MBA programs require at least two years of work experience and JU's Executive MBA program requires eight years.
"I think in some senses, it's not as important right now as it has been and as it will be in the future," added Jeffrey Michelman, associate dean and director of graduate studies for the College of Business Administration at the University of North Florida. "When it's a tight labor market, some people are willing to sacrifice credentials. But at some point, the labor market is not going to be tight and that credential is going to catch up with you."
A matter of degrees
While some say a tight labor market decreases the importance of advanced degrees in landing a job, others argue that a tight market favors those with higher levels of education.
"The nice thing about a tight labor market is that you can really leverage yourself for even a better job," Michelman said.
According to a 1999 salary guide, an MBA is worth $20,000 a year over a bachelor's degree.
Many of Robert Half's temporary staffing applicants are also MBA students. They're taking advantage of a market situation that almost guarantees them steady temporary work while also allowing them time to study.
"There is a recognition that, `If this can give me a competitive edge, I'm going to do it,'" White said. "When they do settle into a permanent position, they want to come in at a level that is a potentially better level than the one they're at right now. But there is also a recognition that even if they don't have that education, if they've got a body of work experience, they're more marketable than they were in the past."
According to Michelman, employers see education as a a hiring tool and an investment.
"Our MBA enrollment is the strongest it's ever been now," Michelman said about the University of North Florida. "About 75 to 80 percent of our MBA students are part time and their employers are paying for it. I think employers are using that as a benefit in the tight labor market."
MBAs can also help employees take their careers in entirely new directions, employers note.
"Perhaps they've been pigeon-holed in their job," Lockamy said. "Let's say they're in operations and they want to go into marketing. Their MBA is one way to bridge that gap."
On the rise
According to research by the Human Resources Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., the number of master's degrees awarded in the United States rose from 284,263 in 1984 to 416,000 in 1997 -- a 46 percent increase. That number is expected to decline to 379,000 in 2003 because of the projected decrease in the 25- to 34-year-old population during the same period, then rise to 400,000 by 2009.
Steve Latham, the owner of a Florida real estate agency, said he earned his MBA in 1996, even though he was already successful in a family-owned business.
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