It can be also interpreted as "contact with government officers is inherently stressful", at least for some individuals. That would be enough to move the group mean.

Which I saw in my own family. My mother was never unemployed and never demanded anything from the state coffers, but she was afraid of the bureaucracy and the inscrutable power that it wielded over citizens' matters.

My former secretary is somewhat spooked by contact with the governmental structures as well.