The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits last week dropped to a fresh one-year low, suggesting layoffs were subsiding as a reopening economy unleashes pent-up demand. Fred Katayama reports. Montana will opt out of several federal programs that helped boost unemployment payments at the same time it offers $1,200 one-time payments to those starting new jobs. Itâs an attempt to both incentivize and push the roughly 10,000 people the state estimates are still out of work because of the pandemic, and help employers who are desperate to find employees. The $15 million for the bonus payments will come from the $2.7 billion sent to Montana from the federal government under the American Rescue Plan Act.Â