The youngest adults are struggling the most financially in the recovery, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday in a report.

“Young adults in the United States have experienced higher rates of unemployment and lower rates of labor force participation than the general population for at least two decades,” said the study.

While job growth has been sustained since the 2008 meltdown, the Fed noted unemployment for 16- to 24-year-olds is more than twice the national average. At the same time, labor force participation for this age group has declined from about 66 percent in 2000 to roughly 55 percent in mid-2014.

Other findings from the poll of 2,097 18- to 30-year-olds in December 2013:

• Forty percent have full-time jobs, an equal number are unemployed and 20 percent work part time.

• Of the part-time workers, 30 percent want more hours of work to increase their savings.

• For 18- to 30-year-olds who cannot meet their monthly expenses from their jobs, 20 percent are tapping into savings.

• About 7 percent of all young adults are getting help with personal savings from parents or other family members.

• Roughly three out of four entrepreneurs in this age group said they used savings to help start their business, three times as many who used crowdfunding.