As the aftershocks of the subprime mortgage securities meltdown ripple through the financial world and the broader economy, the robust market for graduates of New York City’s business schools has become less certain.

“We’re alert to what’s happening now with subprime, hedge funds, and credit markets,” the assistant dean and managing director of the Columbia Business School’s Career Management Center, Regina Resnick, said. “It’s the type of thing that can make firms more cautious about hiring.”

Hiring and compensation levels for newly minted MBAs in New York and nationwide have soared in recent years, according to research by the Graduate Management Admission Council. The guaranteed first year compensation for an average graduate of New York University’s Stern School of Business, for instance, climbed to $145,245 last year from $119,637 in 2003.

Generous offers from Wall Street and financial service companies in other areas contributed heavily to the boom, particularly for New York MBAs. More than half of the full-time MBA students from Columbia, Stern, and Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business begin careers in finance after graduation, as do roughly a third of the students at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Business Administration, according to the schools’ records.

Schools have not released official statistics for this year’s graduating classes, but the research from GMAC and a recent Barron’s poll of career services departments indicate that the trend has continued.

Given that much of this year’s hiring occurred before the subprime mortgage woes began affecting the overall economy, the recent volatility and uncertainty in financial markets could pose a threat to the prospects of future MBA classes, some monitoring the job market say. The investment bank Bear Stearns & Co., for example, fired 240 employees at the end of last week.

But others believe that New York’s MBA graduates can continue to thrive, even if the economy slumps.

“Based on conversations I’ve just had with employers, they’re not planning any cutbacks in hiring, at least in the immediate future,” the director of Baruch’s Graduate Career Management Center, Tracy Handler, said.

“We’re not panicking at all,” said Columbia’s Ms. Resnick, adding that she has been discussing the situation with recruiters. “I think our students are somewhat defended against the vagaries of the markets. Location, reputation, our alumni bases, and especially companies looking for talent in their own backyard are all reasons that I’m guardedly optimistic.”

Some companies, she said, have told her that they enjoy having a steady stream of young talent to bring in each year, given that many of their older employees are soon-to-retire baby boomers.

“It’s partially market-driven, like most hiring on Wall Street,” a spokeswoman for Merrill Lynch & Co., Selena Morris, said. Still, she said, the company’s MBA hires “are a critical pipeline for us. You might see an increase in hiring some years in a specific area where the market is hot, but it tends not to go down too dramatically.”

New York’s MBA programs also boast of another inherent advantage: the city itself. “The location of New York City is very appealing,” the admissions director of NYU’s Stern School, Isser Gallogly, said. “If you look at the Fortune 500 companies, about 25% have headquarters in our general area. Being close not only to Wall Street but to a diversity of businesses is obviously extremely attractive.” If MBA hiring in one area weakens, Stern’s students have a variety of other options nearby, he noted.

Early this decade, after the combined shocks of the dot-com bubble bursting, the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the corporate governance scandals exemplified by firms such as Enron and WorldCom, the market for MBAs was in decline.

Applications to business schools increased in 2002 as people lost their jobs and sought further credentials, but declined in 2003 and 2004, according to GMAC.

Many schools reacted by overhauling their curriculums, placing greater emphasis on teaching ethical issues, and introducing courses that reflected the specific requests of businesses and students. Less emphasis was placed on academic accomplishments by faculty.

As these changes were implemented, and as the economy and financial markets rebounded in the middle of the decade, firms began hiring more MBAs and fewer undergraduates. Business school enrollments surged.

“Schools are becoming more flexible in their curricula and the services they offer students,” GMAC’s director of market research and analysis, Rachel Edgington, said. “In some schools, there’s been a growth in new concentrations such as entrepreneurship being offered that are tailored to meet the needs of students. And a lot of them now offer part-time and flex-time programs, which makes it easier for students to find a job.”

Schools have also become more diverse, she said, attracting greater numbers of foreign and minority students. Based on a GMAC survey to be released later this month, enrollment to business schools will continue to increase through at least 2010, despite the current uncertainty in the markets.

“What we’re seeing now is serious, but it doesn’t compare to what we saw five years ago,” Ms. Edgington said. Given how business schools have adjusted in recent years, she said, “This is a more normal market fluctuation, which we don’t expect will impact our predictions.”

But Ms. Handler of Baruch said she remains careful not to become complacent. “I don’t think MBA students are immune to economic downturns,” she said. “We’re not worried right now, but things could change very quickly. And it wouldn’t have to be a huge reduction in the number of MBAs hired by each firm — if you have a lot of employers who all do the same thing, the number adds up quickly, and then it’s a problem.”