I've heard the issue of work brought up frequently as a flaw of SATC, and my feeling has always been, So what?

SATC is a fairy tale, with work/family (notice that we don't know anything about where Carrie's socioeconomic background) omitted on purpose to make it easier for audiences to relate to the characters on the main themes: love, sex, relationships.

In fact, we find out plenty about the role of work in Miranda and Steve's relationship in the series, and a little in the film as well. Same goes for Samantha. Why? Because work mattered more to those two characters. With Charlotte, we find out more about marriage and reproductive issues, because to her, they loom large in her life.

Carrie has always been the most fantastical character of the bunch. I'm not sure why, because she was fairly down-to-earth in the series beginning. Maybe the producers wanted to give her a Cinderella/Jane Austen heroine character arc to appeal to fans? Don't know.

But the most ardent fans are well aware that Carrie is just writer Candace Bushnell's alter ego and have figured out long ago that Mr. Big is based on Ron Galotti, former publisher of Vogue. Hence, if you ever watched the series and remember the episode when Carrie visits Big to ask for financial help on her apartment, he's shown in a somewhat modest office (in NYC terms), just like a publisher.

If we require every movie to show all aspects of its characters' lives, I can also ask the same of the James Bond movies and Indiana Jones: why do we never see more of their families and friends? what's their political leaning? just what kind of peer review does Indiana go through for his archeological findings? Good lord, it's so offensive that we don't see an accurate depiction of academia!