More than a third of employers who recruit MBA students said they will be bringing in “a lot fewer” management leaders in 2020 than in 2019, as the economic chaos wrought by Covid-19 takes its toll even on the holders of these coveted higher education degrees.

The survey, carried out by the Association of MBAs and the Business Graduates Association, comes as governments tentatively attempt to reopen economies following months of lockdown, while the threat of a second wave of the disease continues to weigh on sentiment.