Abstract: Different models of economic development have come into being during the rapid economic growth in China. However, researchers who are concerned about the successful experiences of various developmental models have often missed the treatment that workers receive. Little research has been directed to studying both the developmental models and workers’ treatment in conjunction. This paper, based on the survey data of the Pearl River Delta, Southern Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, discusses the impact of three developmental patterns on workers’ income. Overall, among the three areas, those in Southern Jiangsu have the highest income level and those in the Pearl River Delta get the lowest. To find out the causes, Oaxaca decomposition analysis reveals that the difference in the worker’s human capital endowments is the most important factor. In Southern Jiangsu, the requirements of the workers’ human capital endowments are higher, which leads to a higher average monthly income in comparison with that in the other two areas. However, the regression coefficients show an opposite pattern: They are the lowest in Southern Jiangsu, whereas the coefficients in Zhejiang and the Pearl River Delta are actually higher. Although the developmental model in Southern Jiangsu asks for better human capital of the workers, that nevertheless has not given better returns to the workers there. With such a finding, the authors suggest that the government should push economic development toward using native resources and provide a better environment for entrepreneurship in addition to upgrading the industry, increasing the workers’ income, and improving the working condition.

Key words: economic development models ,  , migrants&rsquo, wage ,  , Oaxaca decomposition , industry upgrading