Popular Lizards Thicket restaurants are still struggling due to lack of labor.

The Williams family has closed a restaurant and reportedly may close another until they can get back to being fully staffed.

Labor shortages, particularly in food, leisure and hospitality, are what University of South Carolina economist Joey Von Nessen calls a defining challenge for the next decade.

South Carolina has had a fairly strong rebound this year, Von Nessen told the the SC Leadership Exchange, but it has largely been the result of the major federal stimulus money.

Many business leaders blame Washington for extravagant unemployment pay. discouraging people from returning to work.

The federal funds included loans to help businesses stay afloat and families survive, advocates say.

“Most of those stimulus dollars are largely behind us now, and we’re transitioning to a period where the economy is going to have to stand more and more on its own,” Von Nessen said.

The state was within 2.6% of its pre-covid employment in July. he said. Some sectors, such as construction, have fully recovered.

The exception is food, leisure and hospitality which lost about half of its jobs last year. But since then, it’s narrowed that to about 10%.