Perl is an awesome tool. I work for a civil engineering company where we are always on tight schedules. We get lots of files in different formats (Autocad, Comma-Separated or just 'some' format) and we need the data converted for the real work. Perl is undoubtedly the right tool for this kind of work.

We also use Perl to 'glue' vintage Fortran applications to a somewhat friendly interface in a platform-independent way. For Windows, Perl can connect to Excel and other OLE stuff, making it pretty good for windows scripting.

So Perl is an awesome tool. Perl will probably not make you much money if it is your most important qualification, but it will make work easier. And more fun too