Yes. And many members of that group of government workers were able to rise into the middle class thanks to that part of the compensation for their government employment.
I think that's for two main reasons, neither of which has to do with younger people consuming more:
(1) Older people are more brand-loyal -- they generally fell into consumer ruts years ago, so the chance of luring them to your product with a particular ad is much lower, per contact, than doing so with a younger person who doesn't have ingrained consumer habits. For example, if you're a 55-year-old who always buys Toyota, there's less value to reaching you with an ad for a car than if you're a 20-year-old in the market to buy your very first car. Not only are you more likely to succeed in altering the buying decision of the younger person, you're also more likely to forge a new habit that will pay rewards for decades down the road.
(2) Older people are couch potatoes. If someone lives her life camped in front of the TV, the value of reaching her with a given TV ad is badly diluted, since she's so very easy to reach with TV ads. By comparison, if someone watches fairly little TV, like younger people, then there's a premium on reaching her.