Retailers this year anticipate paying seasonal workers an average of $13.70 an hour, a 54 percent jump from expected pay of $8.90 last year. (Photo: Shutterstock)

The labor crunch is only going to get worse as Thanksgiving and Christmas loom, and restaurants and retailers across the U.S. are tossing out perks to fill their workforce holes before the holiday rush.

In the Washington D.C. area, cooks at Clyde's Restaurant Group eateries can now clock out, grab a seat at the bar and get a 25-percent discount on oysters and wine. The company added the perk this year to draw and retain staff.

“It's helping because it's a fight for employees out there,” Chief Operating Officer John McDonnell says. The company, which employs about 2,000, was still looking last month for more than 100 hourly workers—mostly servers at its full-service restaurants. With the holidays coming, “you just need to ramp up, you need more people,” he says.