Parallel to his studies in the University of Bonn, Klein worked as an assistant to a member of the German Bundestag. In 1986, Klein finished his studies in the University of Bonn as a graduate economist and took on a several month internship in the consulting company Henkell Brothers in Melbourne, Australia. After returning back to Germany, Klein continued working for the same Australian consulting company as a freelancer. From 1988 until 1989, Klein was the branch manager of another Australian company Exicom Ltd in Dusseldorf. From 1989 until 1995, Klein was the executive manager of the Wittgensteiner Kuranstalt GmbH & Co. KG, an operator of rehabilitation clinics and hospitals in Germany and the Czech Republic.
Political career
Career in state politics
In 1978, Klein became the member of the CDU. He is a member of the federal board of the CDU since 2001 and the chairman of the CDU in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein since 2003. From 2004 until 2015 he was the chairman of the federal board of the Protestant Working Group of the CDU in North-Rhine-Westphalia. From 1984 until 2005, he was a member of the council of the Burbach municipality and from 1992 until 1996, he was the mayor of this municipality. Klein was a member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1995 until 2009, where, in the 14th legislative period, he was a member of the Budget control committee, Budget committee, Finance committee and the Subcommittee of the Budget- and Finance committee "Personnell“. Besides that he was the speaker of his party in the Budget and Finance committees.
Member of the German Parliament, 2009–present
In the 2009 national elections, Klein was directly elected with 41.53% votes into the German Parliament, followed by 45.8% votes in the federal election in 2013. In his first two legislative terms in the German Parliament, he served on the Budget Committee and the Subcommittee on European Union issues. Klein also was a member of the parliamentary Financial market committee, a committee that monitored the federal bank rescue package worth 480 billion euros passed on October 17, 2008 and advised on fundamental and strategic issues as well as long-term developments in financial market policy. In 2017 Klein was directly elected with 40,13% votes into the German Bundestag. In the current, 19th legislative period of the German Parliament, he is the Chairman of the Economic Cooperation and Development Task Force of the CDU/CSUparliamentary group, member of the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development, Deputy member of the Budget Committee and deputy member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In addition to his committee assignments, Klein chairs the German-Pacific Parliamentary Friendship Group of the German Bundestag.
