The fall of the MBA

For months, a large number of 2023 MBA graduates searching for jobs have collided with a slowdown in hiring for well-paid, white-collar positions. An MBA can cost more than $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. Many in the spring class of 2023 say they are still awaiting that payoff. These MBAs entered the job market just as three sectors that heavily recruit them — consulting, tech and finance — hit downturns and put the brakes on hiring. Some graduates with consulting jobs have had their start dates pushed to later this year. Meanwhile, the number of openings in software development, marketing, banking and other professional fields has fallen from a year ago. At Harvard Business School, 20pc of job-seeking 2023 MBA graduates didn’t have one three months after graduation, up from 8pc in 2021. At Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, 18pc didn’t, compared with 9pc in 2021.

(Adapted from “The MBAs Who Can’t Find Jobs,” by Lindsay Ellis, published on January 15, 2024, by The Wall Street Journal)

Sluggish consumption

For a country of 1.4bn people, leaving spending to 100m top earners in India will store up trouble in the future. China’s consumption funk is a cautionary tale. The most-populous nation no longer needs qualifiers like “the world’s fastest-growing free-market democracy” to highlight its exceptionalism. At 7.3pc, it’s expanding quicker than any other major economy. Nor does New Delhi need to apologise for frequent political change: Narendra Modi has been prime minister for the past decade, and will most likely win a third five-year term. But there is a catch. The structure of the Indian economy is also turning Chinese, or at least exhibiting characteristics associated with the People’s Republic. The world’s second-largest economy has relied too much on investment, and suppressed consumption. Continuing with the status quo may worsen its debt overhang. Private purchases of goods and services in inflation-adjusted terms are crawling at just 4.4pc, its second-slowest pace in more than two decades and much more sluggish than the broader economy.

(Adapted from “India’s Growth Has Chinese Characteristics,” by Andy Mukherjee, published on January 17, 2024, by Bloomberg)

Making work less boring

Every job can be a little bit boring sometimes. But the good news is that creativity goes a long way when it comes to making even the most boring parts of your job a little more fun. If you’re struggling to get through your to-do list this week, try one of these approaches: 1) Listen to your favourite music while replying to emails. 2) Making too many phone calls today? Can you make it more enjoyable by working from your favourite café or an outdoor space with a nice view? 3) If you have boring research to do, give yourself permission to go down interesting rabbit holes every 20 to 30 minutes. 4) Convert your weekly status update meetings into a walking meeting so everyone can get some fresh air while also working. 5) If you have long drives to meetings, catch up with friends or family over a call. 6) Need to send out 300 physical invites for the year-end event? Pair the activity with a movie you’ve been meaning to watch.

(Adapted from “Boring Work Doesn’t Need To Feel Painful,” by Amantha Imber, published by HBR Ascend)

Saving American banks

Higher interest rates have brought America’s bankers both ruin and riches. Less than a year ago, rising rates caused Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and then First Republic to fail, the largest bank collapses since 2008. Yet on January 12, JPMorgan Chase reported its seventh consecutive quarter of record net-interest income. One reason the crisis did not spread in 2023 is that the Federal Reserve contained it with a new loan programme. The bank term funding programme (BTFP) offers banks loans secured against the face value of Treasury bonds to stop wobbly banks having to sell treasuries to raise cash if depositors fled. The BTFP lends the face value, rather than the market value, of the securities against which its loans are secured and its generosity succeeded in stopping a potentially severe crisis.

(Adapted from “How America Accidentally Made A Free-Money Machine For Banks,” published on January 18, 2024, by The Economist)

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, January 22nd, 2024