Die Berufsstruktur des Deutschen Bundestages in der 20 . Wahlperiode

Abstract

After the 2021 Bundestag election, the composition of parliament changed considerably . With 736 mandate holders, the Bundestag has more members than ever before, and more than 38 percent of them are newcomers . The article uses Adalbert Hess’ categorization scheme to examine how the personnel changes affect German MPs’ occupational structure . Compared to the previous electoral term, it is noticeable that, significantly more MPs are from occupational areas close to politics, especially staff members of parliamentary groups and parties . MPs who previously worked in those jobs are often younger and their share is higher among East German MPs . Although convergence tendencies between East and West German MPs are still rare, they do exist: While East German MPs are still less likely to be freelancers and more likely to be self-employed than their West German colleagues, the dif- ferences between the groups have narrowed noticeably compared to the previous electoral term .