Young people are apt to be ambitious and idealistic. Student activists involved in the Occupy protests can easily be passed off as such, but that is not cause to dismiss them as being naïve. They have legitimate concerns about Hong Kong's future and their part in its development and Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying is right to set up a new government task force to try to improve their prospects. But their concerns cannot be resolved by a single entity or simply handing out economic incentives and benefits. It is a community-wide matter that requires all sides working together with understanding, tolerance and consensus.

The taskforce will be convened under the Commission on Poverty and while few details were announced, Leung highlighted that a perceived lack of upward mobility was among reasons behind the protests. Young people are worried about jobs, home ownership and livelihoods, issues that are generations old. But their economic circumstances are markedly different from those of their parents and grandparents, with property prices at record highs, the population ageing, the gap between the rich and poor among the widest in the world and the outlook for good jobs for fresh graduates bleak. High rents are daunting for those with an entrepreneurial spirit or innovative and creative ideas.

Economic challenges make the poverty commission a good fit for the task force. To ensure its work is effective, though, it must coordinate closely with other government entities that already handle youth affairs. Chief among them is the Commission on Youth under the Home Affairs Bureau; its advisory role, research, working groups and programmes give it the reach to share information and bring together those able to find solutions. Such wide-ranging involvement of different sectors of society will be crucial to ensuring that the future is bright for young people.