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NRF welcomed a letter from lawmakers urging the Internal Revenue Service to back off a proposed accounting rule change that could cost many retailers millions of dollars a year.

The National Retail Federation, in support of the Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week, will promote retail entrepreneurship through a series of digital, social and research initiatives Monday, June 17 through Friday, June 21.

Improved consumer confidence and spending helped drive retail sales in May. According to the National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail trade association, May retail sales (excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) increased 0.6 percent seasonally adjusted from April and increased an strong 4.8 percent unadjusted year-over-year.

Import volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to increase 1.1 percent in June over the same month last year, reflecting modest growth expectations as retailers head toward the back-to-school and holiday seasons, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by NRF and Hackett Associates.

NRF issued the following statements on employment numbers released today by the Labor Department, which showed that the economy added 175,000 jobs in May, including 28,000 in retail. The unemployment rate increased to 7.6 percent from April’s 7.5 percent.

NRF’s ninth annual Organized Retail Crime (ORC) Survey found that 93.5 percent of retailers say they have been a victim of organized retail crime in the past year, down slightly from 96.0 percent in 2012. For the past three years, more than 90 percent of the retailers surveyed have admitted to being victims of ORC.

In a testimony today before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, international labor and employment expert Johan Lubbe will focus on the key issues that the retail, apparel and manufacturing industries face when doing business in Bangladesh as well as solutions that have been offered to address worker safety.

Americans will spend a little bit more on dad this year, stretching their budgets enough to show their favorite man just how much he is appreciated. According to NRF’s 2013 Father’s Day spending survey conducted by BIGinsight, the average person will shell out $119.84 on dad’s gifts this year, up from $117.14 last year.

The National Retail Federation today announced the launch of Retail Jobs powered by NRF, a unique recruiting and search tool developed for retailers and job seekers. The job board will serve as a fundamental part of NRF’s This is Retail: Careers, Community, Innovation campaign, which was launched in April 2013 in an effort to broaden and enhance perceptions of the industry.

NRF welcomed the White House announcement on plans to rein in “patent trolls,” saying resources retailers could use to create jobs are being diverted to fight frivolous patent infringement claims. NRF will also join other business groups and a key lawmaker at a Capitol Hill event this afternoon calling for patent reform.

The Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS), a division of the National Retail Federation, today announced the addition of three new board members, and the re-election of its current Chairman, Tuesday Morning’s Senior Vice President and CIO, Grant Anderson. Anderson was elected to serve another two-year term as chairman of the ARTS Board of Directors.

More than two dozen college students received great news this month when they learned they were chosen as a recipient of a $5,000 scholarship from the NRF Foundation’s Ray M. Greenly Scholarship fund. Each student, representing 26 schools around the country, was nominated by educators based on demonstrated academic achievements and their strong passion for retail.

The National Retail Federation and a broad cross-section of retailers today asked a federal judge to reject a proposed settlement of an antitrust lawsuit over credit card swipe fees that drive up prices for consumers by $30 billion a year, calling the proposal a “surrender” that does nothing to address the “evil” of price fixing by Visa, MasterCard and their banks.

NRF announced today that it will formally oppose a proposed settlement of a federal antitrust lawsuit over credit card swipe fees charged by Visa and MasterCard, and urged retailers to carefully consider their own decisions before next week’s deadline set by the court.

The North American Bangladesh Worker Safety Working Group, a collaboration of five U.S. and Canadian apparel and retail trade associations, today reinforced its commitment to improving worker safety in Bangladesh and outlined a broad set of proposals to further that goal.

The National Retail Federation today issued the following statement from Senior Vice President David French on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit’s 2-1 decision invalidating President Obama’s “recess” appointments to the National Labor Relations Board:

Import volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to increase 3.3 percent in May over the same month last year but growth could trickle to a standstill by the end of the summer, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by NRF and Hackett Associates.

Strengthening employment data, increasing housing prices and a record-breaking stock market provided consumers the confidence they needed to shop in April. According to the National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail trade association, April retail sales (excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) increased 0.6 percent seasonally adjusted from last month and increased 3.9 percent unadjusted year-over-year.

The National Retail Federation – the world’s largest retail trade association – today distributed a letter to members of the U.S. Senate urging them to support local retailers and small business owners by approving S.743, the Marketplace Fairness Act, which is scheduled for a Senate vote on Monday evening. In the letter, NRF labeled votes on the Marketplace Fairness Act as key votes.