I think part of this is driven by workplace sexual harassment laws, conflict of interest policies and relationship disclosure policies in your examples. The ri

I think part of this is driven by workplace sexual harassment laws, conflict of interest policies and relationship disclosure policies in your examples. The risks for dating your assistant or a nurse are higher compared to what it was 30-60 years ago for example. Now it's safer to date someone at the same income level. Or someone in the same social group but outside of work, which will tend to be the same income level again compared to a workplace. The other part is probably driven by how there are more dual income families competing for the same limited resources, such as housing, making the income of your spouse more relevant.