I think that it is very field specific.

Retail, hospitality, construction is desperate for help, and they pay decently for people with some experience. My friend in construction probation 3.6, upon confirmation 4k. Pte company. He shared his experience saying, a degree is enough, nobody pays for Masters. But they want professional engineer and other specialist cert like project management.

friends in Education, shared that education is flooded with MOE teachers either moonlighting or left service for shorter hours. However MOE seems to be the only employer who employs for office hours and pays well. If one still wants to work office hours, impossibly difficult to find work outside of MOE at their given salary. (think 5 - 6k) The problem is made worse if the Educator completed a higher degree and wants to be paid for it. It seems rarely in education beyond MOE is willing to pay in consideration of a higher degree. However due to industry requirement professional certs like Dace is sought after.

When I was looking for work, many friends who saw that I had a lot of trouble finding work suggested that I hide my Masters. My friends are doing well in private without any higher degree suggest that nobody outside of public service pays people for studying. People are only paid for specialized experience.

I think that our gahmen is panicking as industry 4.0 hit so much faster than anticipated. The only solution which is the problematic solution is to change field. My friends in education visited a career coach, and were advised to take up a job in kindergarten, salary from 5k drop to 2k. Salary aside, all the career coach knows is, it's still education, you should be grateful. Heck, even the career coach all are retirees desperate for a paycheck.

IMHO specialized skills is the way to go. If we are young, tech companies may like unique skills sets, but if nearing 40, tech companies won't look at us anyway, better to master of one.