New Survey: Recession Hitting Young Adults Hardest; With Jobs Disappearing, Wages Shrinking and Benefits Vanishing, Many Are Using Credit Cards to Get By

Among the other findings from the new survey:

* Nearly one in five young adults (19 percent) are unemployed or looking for work. High debt and low savings puts them at particular risk when job losses occur.
* Two in five young adults (41 percent) have been affected by cuts in wages or hours. Half of those who work part-time have had their wages or hours cut.
* Nearly one-quarter of young adults say that they or a family member has recently lost health insurance (23 percent). More than half of those surveyed have lost their coverage at some point in the previous five years.
* Twenty percent of young adults say they or a family member are delaying or leaving college or have transferred to a less expensive school. Twenty-two percent are delaying marriage or waiting to start a family.