How useful is Perl for getting a job?

[Eric L]

I want to write a program to search-and-replace Japanese character strings to make them more translatable by translation software. I already know how to do this at a simple level with "regular expressions." It sounds like Perl is the program for me because it incorporates regular expressions and thus would shorten my learning curve. But if I am going to take the time to learn a programming language, I want to learn one that is useful for getting a job. I understand that learning any programming language is useful for learning the logic of programming. But I want to be "fluent" in a specific language that is useful for getting a programming-related job. I don't mean a heavy-duty programming job such as software engineering; I mean web development and the like. Would learning Perl be a waste of time for getting a simple programming-related job?