These are the most frequent occupations of the candidates for the Bundestag

This much is already clear: a physicist will definitely lose the Bundestag in the coming term of office, because Angela Merkel is known to no longer run. As a trained scientist, Merkel represented a minority anyway, because the Bundestag is traditionally dominated by lawyers. Economists and political scientists are also strongly represented in the current parliament (read more about this here). But what will it look like after the general election?

The job portal Indeed has evaluated the professional background of all 6,211 candidates who want to be elected to the Bundestag next Sunday. Or at least what the applicants have given the Federal Returning Officer as their current status.

Surplus of lawyers and men

There is therefore much to suggest that there will also be a large number of legal experts in the 20th German Bundestag: Indeed counts 128 lawyers and 49 lawyers on the candidate lists. Just behind are the 118 male and 54 female employees, although the term “employee” can of course mean anything. Teachers of both sexes are also very well represented (51 teachers and 50 female teachers). Overall, women are severely underrepresented; they only make up a third of all applicants.

A look at the most common occupations also reveals clear differences between male and female candidates. The top 5 men are completed by entrepreneurs and managing directors, while the top 5 women are made up of nurses and educators – two professional groups that have once again come into focus in the corona pandemic. No less than 17 candidates indicated that they were housewives when they ran for office.

Lots of students in small parties

Young academics are also involved in the election campaign – 386 students are on the candidate lists, which means that the students are represented more than any professional group. However, many of them are unlikely to have a chance of getting a chair in the Bundestag, as they mainly stand for smaller parties that have little chance of getting seats. 47 students stand alone for the young Volt party, only the Greens and The Party can show more with 55 each. 36 students are running for the Left and 26 for the FDP, but only 14 each for the Dickschiffe CDU and SPD.

Many of the 153 pensioners are likely to fail as well – a good third of the seniors are in the running for the small communist parties DKP and MLPD as well as the right-wing extremist NPD. According to the Indeed evaluation, the average age of all eligible people is around 43 years.

Few foreign names

In addition to job information, Indeed also evaluated the candidates’ first names. The most frequently represented are Michael (125), Thomas (120), Andreas (99) and Christian (92). The most common female first names – Susanne and Sabine, each with 33 mentions – only come in 26th place. You have to search much longer for first names with clearly foreign origins: Indeed counts the first in 342th place with three Mohamads, Erkans and Deryas each.