A youth concern group on Monday urged the government to give more support to university graduates, saying more are ending up in low-skilled jobs.

In a study of university graduates over the past 35 years, the New Youth Forum said their median income had gone up from HK$14,000 in 1987 – adjusted for inflation – to HK$17,000 last year. But the group also found that 15 percent of the graduates last year took up low-skilled jobs, up from 11 percent in 2002.

"There are more people having a university degree these days, but there are not that many high-skilled jobs in the market," Cliff Tang from the New Youth Forum said.

He urged the government to give more support to youngsters to continue their education.

"In the upcoming Policy Address, if the government can provide a reduction in tax or subsidies for graduates on further education, it would be beneficial for them," he said.

A research consultant Cheung Pui-yin said Hong Kong could boost industries such as IT.

"The government can try to support emerging industries that can provide many high-skilled and high-income jobs to the young graduates," he said.

"Another possibility is that the government can consider trying to restructure the university or tertiary education, to make it more reflective of what the labour market and the economy in general needs."