> Any normal company has to pay much more than that for less

In most EU countries, the employee receives much less than what they cost the employer. In France, if an employee gets 30K euros, the employer has to provision ~45K Euros.

What's your point? I've lived in 3 different european countries, I'm familiar with fully loaded costs, I don't see how social security changes anything. By paying more for less I mean PhDs candidates are very cheap labor for what they bring to the table.