Caught amid a glut of job applicants fresh out of college, many of China's newly minted graduates are choosing a time-worn path the world over: relying on their parents for hand-outs.

According to a new survey conducted by Peking University, more than one-third of recent Chinese graduates continue to live off their parents.

A still-greater number are failing to save any money, the survey found, with 40% reporting that they live paycheck to paycheck.

The survey, which covered some 350,000 respondents, found that students graduating nationwide this year had an average monthly salary of 2,443 yuan ($396) -- approximately enough to buy half of an iPhone in China, as the Beijing Youth Daily put it. The figure marked an increase of 324 yuan from the previous year. In big cities such as Beijing, figures were slightly higher, with recent graduates commanding an average starting salary of 3,019 yuan.

Part of the problem for graduates is that despite China's booming economy, there's a persistent mismatch between the skills needed on the job market and the ones taught in schools. In recent years, many college students have joked—accurately—that their starting salaries are often lower than that of migrant workers. Over the past decade, China has embarked on a college-building spree that has seen many vocational schools turned into four-year colleges, a boom fueled by rising incomes that have enabled more families to finance such degrees. This year, more than 7 million students graduated across the country with college degrees and expectations to match—creating a thundering level of competition among jobseekers.