Business schools have commonly observed that many people choose to enter MBA programs when job opportunities are down. To test this hypothesis, we decided to look at the number of applicants for MBA programs and compare them to the unemployment rate. The application data are from the Graduate Management Admissions Council(GMAC), while the unemployment data are taken from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website. There is data for both the total unemployment rate and college graduates 25 years of age or older. The data for 2000 through 2013 is given below:

Unemployment Rate for Unemployment Percentage of Schools Reporting an year College Grads (96) Rate (96) Increase in MBA Applicants (96) 2000 1.6 4.0 63 2001 2.2 4.6 65 2002 2.9 5.8 84 2003 3.1 6.0 35 2004 2.7 5.5 16 2005 2.3 5.1 20 2006 2.0 4.6 68 2007 2.1 4.7 64 2008 2.3 5.5 80 2009 4.6 9.3 64 2010 4.7 9.6 41 2011 4.3 8.9 28 2012 4.0 8.1 43 2013 3.7 7.4 50