President Moon Jae-in has visited a factory of a local solar cell maker to praise its successful job-sharing project in compliance with the government’s initiative to create many jobs. 

At a production assembly of Hanwha Q Cells in Jincheon in North Chungcheong Province on Thursday, Moon also attended a ceremony jointly held by the company’s management and the labor union to celebrate their collaborations. 

The labor and management of the company signed an agreement on increasing the number of workers in return for reducing working hours by 14 hours per week for each existing worker. Despite the significant cut in working hours, the management agreed to guarantee the workers will receive salaries of at least 90 percent of the previous levels. 

The move came after the U.S. government announced safeguard measures on imports of solar cells, including from South Korea, raising concerns local solar cell producers’ business will be negatively affected.