Read, write, develop: the socio-economic impact of literacy in South Africa

Purpose Taking motivation from South Africa's ranking of 50 out of 50 countries who participated in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study of Grade four learners in 2016, this paper examines the social and economic outcomes of literacy in South Africa. Design/methodology/approach Using unemployment, income and crime rates as proxies for social and economic outcomes, the effect of literacy is examined by employing the fixed- and random-effects techniques to estimate a panel data covering nine provinces in South Africa from 2008 to 2017. Findings The results show that literacy rate worsens unemployment but improves crime rate and income per capita across South African provinces. Practical implications Policymakers need to consider an expanded view of literacy by extending investments to cover financial and technology literacy in addition to functional literacy to fully maximise the benefits of education. Originality/value To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first empirical assessment of literacy outcomes in South Africa.