Cost Cutting by US Corporations

From Focus: A Weekly Financial Digest from Bank of Montreal economic research (I've put in bold the key bit):

Cost cutting in the corporate sector has been rampant in recent quarters. Total labour compensation in the U.S. business sector was down 6.6% y/y in Q2, the steepest decline in the postwar era (Chart 2). However, payrolls aren’t the only thing that have been slashed as nonlabour payments have registered the steepest one-year decline since the early-1980s. This has helped to boost earnings in recent quarters, and sets the stage for a levered recovery once demand revives—this operating leverage will allow a bigger portion of revenues to flow directly to the bottom line.

So corporations will be profitable, but workers take it on the chin in terms of unemployment. That's not the fault of private companies. That's the fault of the Obama administration which lowballed its stimulus package and worked harder at pleasing Republicans than at trying to get the economy back on its feet.