I once heard a young man doing his degree in a private uni saying the expected fair annual wage of a fresh bach. deg. grad = SGD50K
He couldn't find a job for 9 months. He got a job eventually paying him annually approx. 35K as starting salary after he agreed to sign a 2 year contract.
LHL is right about not getting too obsessed with a degree just for the sake of pursuing a paper. People tend to forget what truly matters... delivering real life results.