A Degree equals improved Job Security & Earnings

The impact of a Degree on Job security:

• In Australia, the chances of being unemployed are three times greater for those who
  have not completed Year 12 compared to those who have completed a university
  degree.
• Higher levels of education allow displaced workers to more easily pick up the threads
  of their career and take advantage of new opportunities.
• Less educated workers have greater difficulty in demonstrating the skills that would
  allow them to quickly find another job.
  Access Economics 2005, The Economic Benefit of Increased Participation in Education and Training.

The impact of a Degree on Earnings:

In the Australian IT industry, there is a visible difference between the earning power of a degree and the income provided by non-degree training. In 2006 an IT Manager with a postgraduate degree could expect a mean weekly income of $2,086, compared to that of a non-degree holder’s income of $1,731. The enhancement a degree provides to your value as an employee is directly translatable into dollars: a recent government report stated that ‘that average gross lifetime earnings for university graduates are over $600,000 more for men and $400,000 more for women by comparison with non-graduate counterparts.’ 

…From a jobseeker's point of view, when, as now, a first degree has become the norm, it becomes harder to stand out from the crowd with a [Bachelors Degree] alone. In a world of degree inflation, a second degree may be the more desirable - a kind of academic finishing school …
~ Simon Caulkin. The Observer, Sunday 8 September 2002

… At the university level, Bachelor degrees and postgraduate qualifications are associated with significantly higher earnings, with each year of a Bachelor degree raising annual earnings by about 15 percent…
~ Andrew Leigh, Returns to Education in Australia, October 2007.

...The returns to higher education flow to both those who have received an education and to society in general. Individuals tend to benefit in obvious ways, through increased earnings, lower unemployment and longer working lives...
~Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Skills for a Nation.

Only 6.2% of the population hold a postgraduate qualification, and the employment opportunities for this smaller, elite pool of employees are rapidly expanding…
~ Data from Council of Australia Postgraduate Associations Incorporated.

Back to University means backing the economy: ‘universities are important industries in the economy. Activities undertaken in universities provide about 2 per cent of GDP.’
Borland, Dawkins, Johnson and Williams. Returns to Investment in Higher Education: The Melbourne Economics of Higher Education Research Program.