SINGAPORE - The proportion of resident and foreign workers in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector is similar to that of the workforce in general, with two-thirds of them resident workers and the other one-third holding work passes.

The ICT sector also employed 125,300 workers in 2015.

Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say revealed these figures in Parliament on Thursday in response to a question from Mr Desmond Choo (Tampines GRC) on workers in the sector.

Even so, the tech sector is facing a manpower shortage. There were about 15,000 technology job vacancies that could not be filled in 2014, according to an estimate by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA).

"IDA estimates that by 2017, another 15,000 specialists may be required, especially in growth areas such as software and application development, network and infrastructure, cyber security and data analytics," said Mr Lim.

He said the IDA and industry are working to formulate a sectoral manpower plan to build manpower and help more Singaporeans benefit from the growth in career opportunities in ICT. More details will be revealed during the Committee of Supply debate next month.

In a separate answer, Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim said the 15,000 vacancies in the ICT sector in 2015 were unchanged from 2013 and translates to an average vacancy rate of 9 per cent.

"More than two-thirds of these vacancies were for PMETs (professionals,managers, executives and technicians) or technical specialists in areas such as development, network and infrastructure, cybersecurity and data analytics," said Dr Yaacob. "The rest of the vacancies were mainly in sales and marketing, and infocomm operation job roles."

He added that new infocomm manpower programmes will also be announced at next month's Committee of Supply debate.