What's the point in a masters degree?

There are different sorts of masters/postgraduate degrees - which you need to be aware of if considering doing one.

Firstly there are those which clearly lead to employment - such as NCTJ-accredited journalism courses; school teaching qualifications and a variety of management degrees such as the MBA. Employment rates will vary enormously, so if that's important to you, that's something you need to check out.

Then there are those where you get to study something relevant to your job and which may help in employment - for eg an MA is social work, a postgraduate engineering qualification etc. These are only likely to help if you already have a job/relevant undergraduate degree

And then there are those which are really 'hobby' postgraduate courses - not really likely to help you get a job (although they might), but you do because you're really interested in the subject - that might include, for eg, photographic history, Shakespeare studies etc

Actually many fields (engineering, etc.) a masters degree will increase job prospects and let the employer know that you really studied what you want to pursue.

just to add one more point to Tanitha's post, if you want to do a Phd but don't achieve a 2:1 or above then a masters will be seen as further study to boost your grade. this will again only apply to some degrees though.