A significant proportion of Canadian employers are still wary of taking on disabled workers, despite the fact that they acknowledge they are just as capable as their more able-bodied peers.

That is according to a new study into attitudes towards disabled workers carried out by the Job Opportunity Information Network (JOIN).

The Ontario-based group found that, while most employers see people living with disabilities as potentially valuable assets to have within the workplace, many are still anxious about taking on such a candidate, with one in three of those polled believing that it would be harder to dismiss a disabled person should they turn out to be unsuitable for a role.

In addition, one in four employers expressed concerns over the possibility of disabled workers having to take more time off work than their more able-bodied colleagues.

At the same time, however, the JOIN study found that Canadian workers were more likely to be motivated should they have a disabled colleague.

"If an employee comes in and sees a person with a disability doing a job, doing a really good job, they'll say 'You know what? If they can overcome all that stuff, you know what, I should be able to do even more," the group's Danny Brennan told delegates at a JOIN conference in Ontario.

News of the findings comes soon after Statistics Canada reported that the national unemployment rate unexpectedly rose slightly to 8.6 per cent in October.