Many of the tech skills required to do the jobs I have described earlier are in short supply locally. We are fortunate that global and local financial institutions have invested heavily to build up strong technology teams in Singapore. Technology talents from abroad have brought with them valuable experience and expertise that we do not have enough of in Singapore. The surge in demand for technology jobs has benefitted Singaporean workers. The share of Singaporeans in tech jobs has remained stable at about 35% over the years. But with the rapid expansion of the technology workforce, it meant 2,200 more tech jobs for Singaporeans. This is a more than 30% increase in 5 years, from 6,700 jobs in 2014 to 8,900 jobs in 2019. Let us take a deeper dive into the various kinds of technology jobs. The proportion of Singaporeans taking on technology jobs is uneven across diﬀerent roles. Singaporeans account for 70% of the net job growth for cybersecurity engineers and UX/UI designers; and 50% of the net job growth for data analysts and data scientists. This is encouraging, given that these are in-demand roles. But these are also niche roles where hiring numbers are relatively small. The strongest demand - and biggest shortage in local skills - is for so ware engineers. In 2019, net job growth in so ware engineers was 200, 10 times more than that for UX/UI designers. Less than 20% of these 200 so ware engineer jobs went to Singaporeans.
One, when financial institutions set up new technology functions in Singapore, MAS works with them to facilitate capability transfer from foreigners to the local workforce. When we started attracting innovation labs in 2015, the Singaporean share in jobs created at these labs was just 40%. With more labs set up over the years and more Singaporeans exposed to innovation work, Singaporeans now make up about 60% of the 180 high value jobs created at these labs. Two, IMDA partners financial institutions through the TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) initiative to train and place fresh and mid-career professionals into tech roles. Since 2016, more than 500 professionals have been placed into tech roles in the financial sector, such as so ware developers and data analysts, through Company-Led Training and TeSA Mid-Career Advance. Three, MAS works with financial institutions to support individuals from outside the financial sector transit into tech roles in the sector. Through the Technology in Finance Immersion Programme (TFIP), MAS has been working with IBF and Workforce Singapore to support individuals with STEM capabilities through industry-curated training in specific tech skills followed by a work attachment with a financial institution From 70 trainees in 2019, we now have 190 participants. 1 out of 3 are from the mature age group or were unemployed when they enrolled in TFIP. This year, under the refreshed TFIP, there is indicative oﬀer of around 400 traineeships across more than 20 financial institutions. There will be 10 specialist tracks oﬀered in this run, twice the number as before.