Herzog-Stein is a labor market expert for the Hans Böckler Foundation.DW-TV: Let’s pull in Alexander Herzog-Stein. He's a labor market expert from the Hans-Böckler Foundation. We just saw a great example of a success story on the labor market in the former East Germany. But the reality is, and I mean I hate to, you know, spoil the party here, but unemployment is higher in the East than in the West, wages are lower in the East than in the West. Will the East ever catch up? Alexander Herzog-Stein: You know, at the moment we have to have doubts. Growth is simply not sufficient to see a catch-up process in the East in the near future.   DW-TV: Why is that? Alexander Herzog-Stein: I think the East, the eastern economy is still burdened by the mistakes which have been made in the re-unification process. DW-TV: Was the biggest mistake that the East Germans were promised that in a very short amount of time that they would be equal with West Germany? Alexander Herzog-Stein: I think the biggest mistake was that the task was taken too easy. You know, it was expected that we could do it without any problems and it is a big task and it takes time. I think, you know, that it's not a twenty years time span which was promised but we should have taken responsibility to see that it is a big task if we want to achieve that. That was not the case at the beginning. DW-TV: Is it realistic to expect that the East will ever be on par with the West? Alexander Herzog-Stein: I think we still should not give up this target. However, something has to change. We have to see higher growth rates in the future in the East to accomplish that and we also have to be realistic in the sense that it will not be completely equal. That's not the case everywhere in Germany. There are differences in the West as well and there will be differences in the East. DW-TV: Let's fast forward to the economic crisis that we're dealing with right now all over Germany. We want to show ...