PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Of all higher ed degrees, the master’s is the fastest growing — and they’re different. Degrees are newly specific and utilitarian. A master’s in public history might get you a job at a museum and in music might help choir directors handle the business side of performance.

The “degree of the moment” is the professional science master’s or PSM, combining job specific training with business skills. Even the MBA is considered too broad — there’s a major in supply side management.

All of this points to the bachelor’s not being adequate screening for today’s hard to find jobs. At Welch Allyn, a medical device company, the master’s is the first cut. Given two equal resumes, the master’s one wins.

While the new master’s may be a “ticket to a vocation,” Dr. Richard Vedder, professor of economics at Ohio University, in an article in the New York Times, “Education Life,” supplement asks, “Must knowledge be demonstrable to be valuable?” It’s a fair question.

Reported By Dr. Marciene Mattleman, KYW Newsradio