A vector measure result is used to study the complementation of the space $K(X,Y)$ of compact operators in the spaces $W(X,Y)$ of weakly compact operators, $CC(X,Y)$ of completely continuous operators, and $U(X,Y)$ of unconditionally converging operators. Results of Kalton and Emmanuele concerning the complementation of $K(X,Y)$ in $L(X,Y)$ and in $W(X,Y)$ are generalized. The containment of $c_0$ and $\ell_\infty$ in spaces of operators is also studied.

We study the complementation of the space $W(X,Y)$ of weakly compact operators, the space $K(X,Y)$ of compact operators, the space $U(X,Y)$ of unconditionally converging operators, and the space $CC(X,Y)$ of completely continuous operators in the space $L(X,Y)$ of bounded linear operators from $X$ to $Y$. Feder proved that if $X$ is infinite-dimensional and $c_0 \hookrightarrow Y$, then $K(X,Y)$ is uncomplemented in $L(X,Y)$. Emmanuele and John showed that if $c_0 \hookrightarrow K(X,Y)$, then $K(X,Y)$ is uncomplemented in $L(X,Y)$. Bator and Lewis showed that if $X$ is not a Grothendieck space and $c_0 \hookrightarrow Y$, then $W(X,Y)$ is uncomplemented in $L(X,Y)$. In this paper, classical results of Kalton and separably determined operator ideals with property $(*)$ are used to obtain complementation results that yield these theorems as corollaries.