I graduated from Software Engineering in 2001. Doing a 3 year postgrad degree was one of the best options work-wise at that dark time. We are not that deep, for now, at this time.
Fortunately, I never needed to come up with a Plan B as I fairly quickly landed a job with someone I knew at a small competitor of the the company I was laid off from (which was still doing OK although that changed). But I never got so much as a nibble from anyone else.