Source : 한경매거진, 2023.10.19 15:22

About 900,000 young adults are slow learners
Failed repeatedly in interviews and fired within one to two months after getting a job
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For young adult slow learners (borderline intelligent people) over the age of 19, the threshold for independence is too high. ‘Slow learners’ are people with an IQ of 70 to 85 who have difficulties in academics and interpersonal relationships due to low cognitive ability. They take a long time to do simple math, understand written and spoken language, and are easily targeted for crimes such as bullying and fraud. However, because they are not legally recognized as a disability, they are not protected.

About 900,000 young slow learners are unable to survive the fierce job competition
According to the Korea Primary Education Association, an estimated 6.99 million people, or 13.59% of the total population of Korea, are slow learners, including about 900,000 slow learners aged 20 to 29. Young adult slow learners are also entering the job market at the right age to become self-sufficient, but they are virtually eliminated from competition with the general population.

Mr. A, a slow learner in his 20s, graduated from a leading university in Korea and started preparing for a job. He passed the screening process with his high academic qualifications, but he was rejected repeatedly. After more than 10 interviews, he was unable to get a job at any of them, and his dreams of finding a job were dashed by repeated failures.

“In the past, we once conducted a total of two years of training for about 20 young slow learners, including one year of vocational education, six months of on-the-job training, and six months of internship, to help them find employment, but not a single one of them was able to get a job,” said Kwon Oh-jin, director of the Youth Forest Cooperative. “We realized that it is not easy to get them into general companies.”

Worse, even when they do get in, slow learners are the first to be fired. Mr. B, a slow learner in his 20s, worked hard and earned three cat-related certifications to get a job. But after one month, she left her job due to gossip from coworkers. He then tried another company, but he didn’t last more than 1-2 months before being fired.

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*Please note that this is a Korean article.