Wolfgang Clement (7 July 194027 September 2020) was a German politician and a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He was the 7th Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 27 May 1998 to 22 October 2002 and Federal Minister of Economics and Labour from 2002 to 2005. He was an Honorary Member of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation. He was known for being one of the architects of the Agenda 2010 labor market reforms under chancellor Gerhard Schröder in the early 2000s. He was also credited with the merger of the federal ministry of economics and labor and the Hartz I through IV labor market reforms. The labor and welfare reforms have been credited with reducing unemployment and contributing to Germany's growth years. However, the reforms have been a divisive topic and created a lasting rift between the leftists and the centrists at the SPD. Education and career Clement was born on 7 July 1940 in Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia, and was the son of a bricklayer. He completed his schooling Abitur at the Graf-Engelbert-Schule in Bochum. He then completed his apprenticeship, , at the newspaper in Dortmund. He completed his degree in law at the University of Münster in 1965, including clearing the First State Examination, a qualification that allowed him to teach. Clement later worked as an articled clerk and assistant at the Institute for Trial Law at the University of Marburg. In 1968, he returned to the Westfälische Rundschau, first as a political editor, and went onto become the head of political department, and then the deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper. In 1986, Clement moved to the Hamburger Morgenpost, where he remained as editor-in-chief until 1989. On 12 November 2004, he was presented with an honorary doctorate (Dr. h. c.) by the Ruhr University in Bochum. Political career Clement started his political career with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in 1970 and was a member of the party until 2008. Between 1981 and 1986, he was a spokesman for the party's federal executive board, and was also the deputy party whip between 1985 and 1986. In 1989, he was appointed head of the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) by then NRW Minister President Johannes Rau’s government. He relinquished this position in favor of the position of State Minister of Special Tasks for NRW after the state elections in 1990. After the 1995