SYDNEY, May 20 (Reuters) - Australia’s jobless rate fell for a sixth consecutive month in April to the lowest in a year despite a shocking drop in employment as fewer people went looking for work, data on Thursday showed. Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed a decline of 30,600 jobs in April, confounding economists’ expectations for a 15,000 increase. Unemployment eased to 5.5%, the lowest since April 2020 while the participation rate declined 3 percentage points to 66%. (Reporting by Swati Pandey; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.