Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent this week suggested the country is not doing enough to curb youth unemployment, and a look at the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics appears to back him.

The BLS said the latest figures available shows the unemployment rate for U.S. youths was 16.3 percent in July. Although August youth jobless figures have not been released, overall unemployment was 7.3 percent for August. Among various demographics, unemployment for white youths was 13.9 percent in July; for blacks 28.2 percent; Asians 15 percent; and Hispanics 18.1 percent.

The annual average unemployment rate for Georgia youths between the ages of 16 and 19 years old last year was 29.6 percent, and for youths 20 to 24 it was 17.5 percent, according to the BLS.

In an interview with Fox News at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, Kent called youth unemployment “a very big societal issue” and “a noble cause” that the U.S. must address. “I think we expect a little too much from national government,” Kent said, suggesting state and local governments can do a lot more - “more effectively, quicker, better” - in addressing the problem.

Gay rights groups decry Barilla pasta chairman's comments

The chairman of Barilla, considered the world’s leading maker of packaged pasta, is in hot water after saying he would not put gay individuals in ads, only individuals who portray the “classic family.” "I would not do it but not out of a lack of respect for homosexuals who have the right to do what they want without bothering others … [but] I don't see things like they do and I think the family that we speak to is a classic family,” Guido Barilla told Italian radio, according to published reports. Gay rights groups immediately called for a boycott of the company’s products, which are found on the shelves of many U.S. grocery stores. When asked whether he was concerned about how gay consumers would react to his comments, Barilla said: "Well, if they like our pasta and our message they will eat it; if they don't like it and they don't like what we say they will … eat another." Responded Aurelio Mancuso, president of gay-rights group Equality Italia, "We accept his invitation to not eat his pasta." Barilla later apologized and said he "simply wished to underline the central role the woman plays within the family."

Average mortgage rates drop in metro Atlanta

The average metro Atlanta mortgage rate fell this week along with the average national rate, according to Bankrate.com. The lower rates will help prospective homebuyers who may have had to lower their price points due to the recent rise in mortgage rates. The average 30-year fixed rate fell to 4.33 percent from 4.58 percent last week. The average rate nationally was 4.47 percent. Other rates also fell in metro Atlanta. The 30-year jumbo rate for loans of at least $417,000 fell to 4.46 percent from 6.3 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate fell to 3.38 percent from 3.59 percent.

Small businesses face Obamacare delay

Metro Atlanta small businesses that want to sign up for one of the health care exchanges offering insurance under the Affordable Care Act will not be able to participate on Oct. 1, the day the marketplace opens. The Obama administration says the Small Business Health Options Program won’t be ready until November. The program is designed to make it easier for small businesses to shop for insurance plans for their employees. According to a CNN report, full access to details of the program, however, won’t be immediately available when the program opens. “They'll be able to peek at health plan overviews but won't see details, like accurate estimates of premium costs.” The AJC has been providing extensive premium coverage of the Oct. 1 launch of the exchanges in its “Voices of Health Care” series and Obamacare’s impact on various groups: health care providers;  the uninsured; 20-somethings; businesses; and the individual insurance market.

 Home delivery of your McDonald’s fries?

You may not know it but McDonald’s actually offers home deliver in the Land of the Rising Sun. Now, according to Rocket News24, the chain’s restaurants in Japan will start delivering your fries if they are inadvertently left out of your bag. No word yet on whether that service will make its way to restaurants in metro Atlanta.

Nominate your workplace for top honors

For those of you who think you work for a great company, why not nominate it for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s fourth annual Top Workplaces recognition. Nominations are open to all businesses, including nonprofits, with at least 50 employees in a 15-county metro region. The counties are: Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Coweta, Hall, Henry, Paulding, Rockdale and Walton. To nominate your company, go to: ajc.com/go/topworkplaces or call 404-671-9425. Deadline for nominations is Oct. 25. A special section will be published in the AJC in March