diff --git a/data/string_labeled_value_eg.sav b/data/string_labeled_value_eg.sav
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a5bb89e
Binary files /dev/null and b/data/string_labeled_value_eg.sav differ
diff --git a/src/parser.jl b/src/parser.jl
index 6f2ba83..757f049 100644
--- a/src/parser.jl
+++ b/src/parser.jl
@@ -207,10 +207,13 @@ end
 function _handle_value_label!(val_labels, value, label, vallabels)
     lblname = Symbol(_string(val_labels))
     type = value_type(value)
-    # String variables do not have value labels
     # All integers are Int32 and all floats are Float64 (ReadStat handles type conversion)
     # Tentatively save tagged missing values as Char
-    if Int(type) <= 3
+    if type == READSTAT_TYPE_STRING
+        lbls = get!(Dict{Union{String,Char},String}, vallabels, lblname)
+        val = value_is_tagged_missing(value) ? value_tag(value) : _string(string_value(value))
+        lbls[val] = _string(label)
+    elseif Int(type) <= 3
         lbls = get!(Dict{Union{Int32,Char},String}, vallabels, lblname)
         val = value_is_tagged_missing(value) ? value_tag(value) : int32_value(value)
         lbls[val] = _string(label)
diff --git a/src/writestat.jl b/src/writestat.jl
index fdb1f8e..378dfa9 100644
--- a/src/writestat.jl
+++ b/src/writestat.jl
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@ function _readstat_string_width(col)
     elseif nonmissingtype(eltype(col)) == Char
         return Csize_t(1)
     else
-        maxlen = maximum(col) do str
+        string_col = eltype(col) <: LabeledValue ? refarray(col) : col
+        maxlen = maximum(string_col) do str
             ismissing(str) ? 0 : ncodeunits(str)
         end
         return Csize_t(maxlen)
diff --git a/test/readstat.jl b/test/readstat.jl
index 2c3522c..1c35980 100644
--- a/test/readstat.jl
+++ b/test/readstat.jl
@@ -306,6 +306,14 @@ end
     @test m.notes == ["some test text as notes", "   (Entered 15-Aug-2018)",
         "some other comments", "   (Entered 15-Aug-2018)"]
     @test m.file_ext == ".sav"
+
+    # Test for string values, #52
+    sav2 = "$(@__DIR__)/../data/string_labeled_value_eg.sav"
+    d2 = readstat(sav2)
+    @test eltype(d2[1]) == LabeledValue{String, Union{Char, String}}
+    @test refarray(d2[1]) == ["BE33", "BE35"]
+    @test valuelabels(d2[1]) == ["Prov. Liege", "Prov. Namur"]
+
 end
 
 @testset "readstat por" begin