In a game dominated by numbers, anything with higher outgoing numbers will always be more appealing. Conversely, anything which enables lower incoming numbers will also be more appealing.

The issue is that outgoing numbers are being given more weight now than incoming numbers (see ASTs pre-buff and PLDs) which leads to... You guessed it, exclusion of Jobs.

It's less of an obsession with efficiency than a core flaw in job design and balance.