I would like to state that both has its own importance.
If the candidate is a fresher and trying to get the job at that time degree is very important so that the person is having atleast base of knowledge which can be shaped as per the professional requirement.
If there is a candidate who has good work experience then instead of going on degrees we can check professional abilities of he person. In most of the cases real life work experiences proved better than bookish knowledge.
So Degree and Work Experiences are two different measurement criteria for two different type of potential candidates looking for a job.
