3 in 4 independent restaurants are still struggling to find staff, even as the hospitality industry adds hundreds of thousands of jobs, according to a poll

• Restaurants are struggling to find staff more than other small businesses, a poll found.
• 74% of independent restaurant owners say it’s harder to find workers now than before the pandemic.
• Four in five small businesses told Alignable that their supply costs are higher, too.
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

The leisure hospitality industry appears to be on its way to recovery after adding 343,000 people payrolls in June, making up 40% of total US job gains – but independent restaurants say they still can’t get enough staff.

Seventy-four percent of independent restaurant owners say it’s harder to find employees than it was pre-pandemic, according to a survey conducted by small-business network Alignable in the first half of July.

As a result, restaurants top the list of small business sectors that are still in the midst of the labor shortage, according to Alignable.

Read more: These 9 food tech startups are capitalizing on the labor crunch with tools that help franchisees hire or automate the restaurant workforce

The lack of available workers is having huge effects on some restaurants across the US. Some businesses have been forced to reduce their hours because they can’t get enough staff, and half said that they struggled to pay rent in May.

After restaurants, the transport…