When the job market gets tough, the tough specialize--or at least that's the theory advanced by recruiters and headhunters. But regardless of what the statistics say, some academics and professionals argue specialized degree programs are not always the best preparation for a long-term career.

Specialized and technical occupations, which have long been in high demand, are more immune to fluctuations in the economy and job market. As Americans begin to compete with the rest of the world for jobs, there’s no question that those jobs are the ones in-demand.

“Overall, I would agree that job requirements are becoming more specialized in light of globalization and emerging trends in supply/demand,” said Jennifer Grasz, a spokeswoman for Careerbuilder.com, in an email to FOXBusiness.com. “Companies are competing aggressively for highly-skilled labor in areas such as sales, health care and technology.”

The resounding calls for specialization have created an interesting situation for some of the more general college degree programs, including those liberal arts programs of study. With starting salaries for specialized graduates increasing each year, general majors that are less likely to guarantee a job after graduation could look considerably less attractive to students who worry about how they’ll pay back their student loans.

Payscale.com, a Seattle, Wash.-based Web site that researches and provides compensation data, found that among new grads, on average, health professionals and engineering majors earn the highest starting salaries, followed by math and science majors and business professionals next. Humanities majors and other professionals’ average earnings come in at the bottom of the list.

“I can give you many examples of engineers who transitioned to the business or management side--if you’re savvy and have good leadership skills, you can always go back and get an MBA, but it’s hard to get more technical as you go on,” said Allan Sabol, CEO and co-founder of online recruiting marketplace Dayak.com.“You’re competing with a lot more people when you have a general degree, so I think it’s always better to start technical and then move to the general side.”

Indeed, many liberal arts colleges have added quantitative skills to their list of requirements, so general-degree students have at least a basic understanding of subjects like math and economics--giving them greater preparation for the option of accepting a job in a more quantitative field or specializing in math or science later on.

“We do require a display of quantitative proficiency, and in most cases that requires a course in math or computer science or economics,” said Mike Michalson, president of the New School of Florida, a small liberal arts and sciences college based in Sarasota, Fla. Like many other liberal arts schools, New School does offer some specialized degree programs, such as its marine biology and nursing--evidence of the school’s awareness of the benefits of specialization in certain fields.

But however tempting it is to label college degrees in general subjects such as the humanities and liberal "impractical," there are situations when a broadly-based education affords distinct advantages. Many graduate schools, for instance, prefer students who haven’t specialized in their undergraduate education.

In 2001, educational journal, Peer Review, published an article which found students who chose liberal arts majors were much more likely to enroll and complete graduate and professional school, and those students were also more likely to win graduate fellowships.

Outside of graduate schools there are many employers who value liberal arts graduates’ skills. In a recent survey conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, 69% of business leaders rated the skills gained through a liberal arts education as "very important."

Even schools that trumpet specialized degree programs see the value in incorporating liberal arts skill sets into technical degrees. Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in Harrisburg, Pa., recently started requiring its graduates to master certain liberal arts competencies such as analytical reasoning and ethical decision-making.

“Our goal is to blend the technical or specialized degree with many of the skill sets that are required for a successful long-term career,” said Eric Darr, Provost of Harrisburg University.

“We live in a world where very few people stay with a company for 10 years, and [for that] a liberal arts education is very valuable--but the way we make decisions is going to rely more on technology and the average worker’s understanding of technology will need to increase over time,” he said.

Michalson also contends that a liberal arts education prepares students for their long-term careers, not their first job.

“Students will likely go through multiple job changes, and the best preparation for that is a liberal arts degree because the skills you learn dealing with ambiguities, and understanding that there’s no one right answer, is something that’s valuable. But that’s a hard point to put in capsule form for easy consumption to a mass audience,” he said.

But no matter which side of the argument you are on, work experience still makes the biggest difference among employers, Sabol said.

“There are a lot of employers out there who think experience is still more important than the degree,” he said. “If you’ve climbed your way from the bottom with work experience, then you’re more likely to get the job than someone with the right degree and no experience.”