Is your master’s degree useless?

The Economist Women have a higher chance than men of getting a boost to earnings from doing a master’s. In the coming months, millions of people across the Northern Hemisphere will apply to do postgraduate study. Most will top up an undergraduate qualification with a one- or two-year master’s degree, in the hope that this will set them apart in a job market crowded with bachelor’s degrees.

“The No. 1 reason people get these degrees is insecurity,” reckons Mr Bob Shireman of The Century Foundation, a left-leaning think-tank in New York. “They worry that in order to get a job – or keep their own jobs – they need a master’s degree.



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