Economic Competence Study
- More than half (58%) of the 709 Members of the German federal parliament have business expertise which they acquired in the private sector and during their studies.
- Business expertise of the parties in the German federal parliament varies considerably.
- Women are significantly underrepresented.
The world and the whole environment are in flux, be it politics, business, or society. Trade disputes, Brexit, declining growth in business, and, on top of that, the ongoing coronavirus crisis which, when it hit in 2020, by no means encountered a dynamic world economy. In tense times like these politicians often like to emphasise how important the voice of business is in politics. And so, this raises the question of just how expertise the voice of business is in German politics.
This question was explored based on a study conducted by HEADSAHEAD, an executive search company. The goal was to record the business expertise of the 19th German Bundestag by systematically analysing the biographies of its 709 Members. The results provide insight into the business expertise acquired in the private sector and during their studies.
Dr. Michael Schorr, Managing Partner at HEADSAHEAD said,“As an executive search company we regularly accompany the auditing of managers, also at the interface of business, politics, and administration. Being from the private sector, we are very familiar with the abilities and skills of top managers. Our goal with this study is to make an objective contribution to more transparency in politics as well.”
HEADSAHEAD GmbH developed a rating system to analyse and comparably aggregate the business expertise of a parliamentarian in the German federal parliament based on their employment in the private sector. The categories are advanced business expertise, intermediate business expertise, basic business expertise, and no identifiable business expertise. Parliamentarians with advanced business expertise have managerial experience in upper management in the private sector. Representatives with intermediate business expertise were in a managerial position in middle management or have a business degree. Basic business expertise means several years of work in the private sector with no managerial responsibility. Every category has criteria which must be met.
The analysis revealed that 58% of parliamentarians gained business expertise in the private sector or during their studies. Conversely, 42% of elected representatives were shown to have no identifiable business expertise. More than two thirds have basic or no identifiable business expertise from the private sector.
Moreover, the study lets us draw conclusions about the percentage of German federal parliament Members by party with business expertise from the private sector. In the FDP and AfD, the percentage of parliamentarians who worked for a longer period in the private sector is 71% and 74% respectively; the CDU/CSU Union follows at 66%. The percentage of Members in the German federal parliament in the SPD and the Greens (Grünen) with private sector expertise comes in at a mere 43% each. In the case of the Left (Linke) the percentage is 41% and the lowest. Parties which are newer to parliament or whose time in parliament was interrupted fare better.
In terms of distribution by gender, 31% of the mandates are held by women. Not only are there proportionately fewer women in parliament, but they are underrepresented with 20% of the female Members having advanced or intermediate business expertise from the private sector.
In addition, the study also suggests that older, elected representatives usually have considerable business expertise.
“Findings from the study reveal that it is not uncommon for parliamentarians to have a ″chimney career″ (Kaminkarriere), meaning they work as politicians only with harldy any previous professional experience from another sector, such as business, says Dr. Michael Schorr, Managing Partner at HEADSAHEAD.
He went on to add, “As an executive search company our wish for the future is that silos between politics and business can – as in many other countries – be more easily overcome, and people transferring in both directions can enrich both business and politics with the skills and expertise they acquire.”
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