Jul 7, 2026
If you’re under 30 and worried about finding good work, you’re not alone. Youth unemployment in Canada climbed to 14.3% in April 2026 — more than double the national average — and the entry-level job market has grown significantly harder to crack. But one of the world’s most closely watched investors says the answer isn’t to panic. It’s to upskill, specifically in artificial intelligence (AI).
Bill Ackman, the billionaire founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, recently shared his advice for young people just starting out in an interview with James Dumoulin from The School of Hard Knocks. His message was blunt, and for young Canadians trying to get a foothold in a shifting economy, it couldn’t be more relevant.
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“The biggest challenge when you’re young is you want to make money really fast,” Ackman said in the interview. “That’s almost investing in a guaranteed bad outcome.”
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What you know beats who you know
When asked whether success in business comes down to what you know or who you know, Ackman didn’t hesitate.
“What you know is more important,” he said. “The ideas are more valuable than the relationships. If you have a great, creative, brilliant idea, the capital will find you.”
It’s a statement he backs up with his own actions and experience. Ackman founded Pershing Square more than 20 years ago as an entirely employee-owned firm, and built it into one of the world’s most recognized activist investment funds. In April 2026, Pershing Square completed its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker PSUS, raising US$5 billion (C$6.9 billion) — the largest closed-end fund listing in history. Bloomberg reports Ackman’s net worth is estimated at approximately US$9 billion (C$12.4 billion).
He got there, he says, not through connections, but through persistence and conviction in his ideas. These are qualities he insists are the foundation of any entrepreneurial success, regardless of where you’re starting from.
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The one skill Ackman says young people can’t afford to skip
Pressed on where the real opportunity lies right now, Ackman was direct.
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“Learn everything there is to know about AI,” he told Dumoulin. “Start learning how to code using Claude Code. Build a company. It’s the greatest period of time in history for entrepreneurship.”
For Canadians, the numbers back him up. According to PwC’s 2025 Global AI Jobs Barometer — which analyzed close to a billion job ads across six continents — workers with AI skills earn an average 56% wage premium over peers in the same roles who lack those skills. That’s more than double the 25% premium recorded just a year earlier, making AI expertise one of the fastest-growing in-demand skills in modern labour market history.
In Canada specifically, the companies with the most AI exposure see faster headcount growth than the least AI-exposed (52% vs 36%), as well as higher wage growth (24% vs 17%).
The Future Skills Centre (FSC), a federally supported organization focused on skills and workforce development, found that 57.4% of Canadian jobs in 2024 were classified as having high AI exposure. Statistics Canada research supports that data: Roughly 60% of Canadian jobs are potentially highly exposed to AI-related transformation.
The catch? Nearly half (44%) of Canadians already using AI tools at work have received no formal training on those tools. That’s a gap that Ackman may describe as an opportunity hiding in plain sight.
Persistence pays off
Ackman, who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and received his MBA from Harvard Business School, built his career the hard way: cold calls, rejection and bouncing back from high-profile setbacks. He says he still encounters doubters.
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“I remembered smiling and dialling, getting rejected,” he told Dumoulin. “And I said, look, someday when I’m successful, I’m always going to take that call. Every successful person was not a straight line up. Never give up.”
That grit-first philosophy has particular resonance in a Canadian labour market where young workers are absorbing a disproportionate share of economic uncertainty. In early 2026, CBC News reported Statistics Canada data that shows young workers aged 15 to 24 accounted for roughly 53% of job losses in the first quarter, despite representing only 14% of the labour force. As of 2025, youth unemployment has surged 57% since 2022, a level not seen outside a recession in Canada’s modern labour market history, according to a Fraser Institute analysis.
In that environment, Ackman’s advice to build real, specialized knowledge — especially in AI — is practical, not just inspirational.
What this means for young Canadians: five steps to take now
You don’t need to be a coder or a computer science graduate to benefit from AI literacy. The research is clear: Across industries from healthcare to finance to the trades, workers who understand how to use AI tools are earning more and getting hired faster. Here’s how to start.
- Learn the tools, not just the theory. Platforms like Coursera, edX and LinkedIn Learning offer free and low-cost AI courses, many taught by Canadian institutions.
- Use government-funded programs. The Government of Canada’s Future Ready Talent initiative and the Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program both fund AI upskilling for workers in eligible industries. Check Canada.ca for current eligibility. The Upskill Canada program also connects workers with funded training opportunities.
- Start a project from a course. Ackman specifically recommends building something — a tool, an app, a workflow. Even a small personal project demonstrates initiative to potential employers and helps skills stick faster.
- Don’t wait to be trained. The FSC found that 44% of Canadians using AI at work received no employer-provided training. If your workplace isn’t offering it, seek it out independently. Professionals who self-invest in skills consistently earn higher wages over time.
- Think long-term. Ackman’s core caution to young people is not to give in to the urge to get rich fast. The same applies to skill-building. AI knowledge compounds: the earlier you start, the more valuable your expertise becomes as the technology matures.
— with files from Melanie Huddard
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Dave Smith is the VP of Content at Wise Publishing and Editor-in-Chief at Moneywise and Money.ca. His work has also been published in Fortune, Business Insider, Newsweek, ABC News, and USA Today.
