In testimony before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee hearing on organized retail crime Tuesday, the National Retail Federation left out what had been key data around its assessment of the problem.

The group last month retracted its claim that “nearly half” of retailers’ total inventory shrink is lost to organized retail crime, a loosely defined type of shoplifting, following Retail Dive’s discovery of flawed data in an April NRF report focused on the issue.

David Johnston, NRF vice president of asset protection and retail operations, appeared before the House Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement and Intelligence to endorse the “Combating Organized Retail Crime Act,” which has been introduced in both the House and the Senate. Among the bill’s provisions are expansion of the federal enforcement of criminal offenses related to organized retail crime and of the scope of conduct that qualifies as an offenses; latitude for prosecutors under federal money laundering statutes; and the establishment of an Organized Retail Crime Coordination Center “within the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate the federal law enforcement activities related to organized retail crime.”

In contrast to the NRF’s previous advocacy on the issue, Johnston’s oral testimony and the group’s written statement to the committee didn't include statistics specific to organized retail crime or other kinds of theft. The lack of certainty, which includes confused terminology as well as numbers, may be a sticking point for lawmakers.

“We've got to figure out some solutions there, but, you know, smash and grab, organized crime, retail theft — it's hard to figure out which is which,” Lou Correa (D-California) said during the hearing. “But if you don't know which is which, then it's even harder to come up with a good solution. And I look forward to working with all of you and trying to figure this out. Get some real data, so that, based on that data, folks up here can come up with good public policy with the administration and come up with real solutions in real time.”

Despite the lack of specifics, Johnston described organized retail theft as a serious and growing problem. “Employees, consumers communities, we are all victims of organized retail crime,” he said. “Our retailers have reported, as I eluded in my oral testimony, many of them have seen increases of 100% or more over last year ... Those were all time highs to begin with last year. Injuries, deaths, so employees are fearful. No employee should wish to go to work in fear for their job. No employee should have to quit or leave a job for fear.”

In its written testimony to the committee, the NRF noted that “There are currently 543,000 job openings in retail and a clear shortage of workers.”

“Retailers generate millions of good-paying jobs that are the foundation for successful careers, but NRF members report that incidents of violence and intimidation that accompany shoplifting have increased to a point where retail workers are indicating unease with reporting for work,” the group also said. 

The worker shortage in retail is due in part to low wages, according to staff placement firm Adecco’s Adia unit. In a September 2022 online post on how to increase the labor pool, the NRF advocated for Congressional action to ease legal immigration, rescind penalties on Social Security benefits for retirees returning to work and make it easier to hire minors, but made no mention of organized retail crime.

The dearth of statistics on retail crime represents a change in tactics for the NRF. In late October, when NRF executives met with members of Congress for what they called “Fight Retail Crime Day,” NRF CEO Matt Shay said in a press conference at the Capitol that “the studies that we've conducted with our partners measure retail crime, organized retail crime, shrink, theft losses in stores and across the retail ecosystem, at more than $112 billion. That's a 20% increase from 2021. And a dramatic escalation just in the past several years.”

However, the $112 billion figure represents total inventory loss, or shrink, across the industry. According to the NRF’s most recent survey, nearly two thirds, or 63%, is from internal causes, and 36% is from external theft, including shoplifting, burglary, break-ins, robbery, credit card fraud, organized retail crime and other retail crimes committed by non-employees. 

Shrink and theft rates have remained fairly steady since at least 2015, according to the NRF’s annual national retail security surveys.