That's just what the stock market expects and values them on. And the companies are usually incentivized to optimize on that.

I think the question to answer is why does the market want that? Incentives again. If the government can give you a 5% yield (back in the good old days) , why risk it in a company that can fail? It better give more than 5% for that risk!

But also - competition; If your revenues stay the same but your competitor is growing theirs, you're likely losing or about to lose.

re: exploiting workers, I never see that ending. Exploitation is a different thing.