MBAs Are Shunning Industries That Create Jobs

Bloomberg reports:

Manufacturing is like the boyfriend America will finally settle down with: It may not be the sexiest industry, but it sure is dependable.

The field generates one in five jobs in the U.S., including 12 million in manufacturing, and another 17 million in areas supported by manufacturing, according to a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute. The industry is also particularly good at creating more lucrative jobs for less-educated Americans. The average manufacturing worker without a college degree earns $1.78 more each hour than in other sectors, according to the report, which looked at American Community Survey data.

Yet business schools, a breeding ground for the next crop of chief executives, are churning out a minuscule number of graduates who want to make their money in manufacturing. Just 4 percent of all MBAs who graduated last year took jobs in the industry, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek survey of close to 10,000 students conducted as a part of the 2014 ranking of business schools. Compare that to consulting, which drew almost 25 percent of those who got an MBA in 2014, or banking, where 19 percent of graduates landed.

Business schools are also not producing leaders in fields projected to support the largest growth in jobs for Americans.

Are MBA's that relevant to growing corporate America.