With the U.S. economy slowing, more consumers are cooking at home to save money. And that's a good thing for Pittsburgh food giant H.J. Heinz Co., which does more business through grocery stores than restaurants. Heinz's overall results held up in its most recent quarter, even though food service operating income dipped.

"Heinz is having a record year, so we are not seeing a significant impact as a result of any economic slowdown," said Michael Mullen, director of global corporate affairs.

Despite all the talk of an impending U.S. recession, some of the biggest employers and companies in southwestern Pennsylvania are reporting no major fallout yet from the recent downturn, nor do they expect to freeze new hiring or capital expenditures. Many are citing a surge in demand from outside the United States as a reason for optimism.

"Recessions don't last forever," said Maria Shields, chief financial officer of Cecil-based engineering and software development firm Ansys Inc.

Certain sections of the Pittsburgh-area economy should be able to withstand the current downturn without much damage, according to Harold Miller, a Downtown management and policy consultant. Health care is one: "Most health-care services aren't going to be delayed," he said.

Backing up that view is the 44,000-person University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. UPMC, the region's largest employer, still plans to hire people this year and spend about $500 million on capital improvement projects. Its size, its operating income and a double-A credit rating allow the nonprofit to fund any expansions with cash flow or new debt that can be raised at favorable rates, said UPMC chief financial officer Rob DeMichiei.

Another recession-resistant segment of the economy is education, a big source of local employment that runs "countercyclical to the national business cycle," said Chris Briem, a regional economist with the University of Pittsburgh's center for Social and Urban Research, via e-mail. "People will go back to school or stay in school longer if job prospects are weak."

But Mr. Miller, who has studied changes in the regional economy over time, argues that Pittsburgh still has not fully recovered from the last U.S. recession in 2001. "We still have fewer jobs than we did in 2001, which isn't true much of anywhere else in the country," he said. And "we still have a lot of jobs in cyclical industries here, like metals and chemicals, which could hit us hard ... if those industries experience a significant downturn."

Since 2001, Pittsburgh's job creation has trailed the national average partly due to continued population declines and the region's non-participation in the housing boom that other regions experienced. Last December, the Pittsburgh metro area had the fourth worst job growth rate of any of the top 40 regions in the country, according to statistics cited by Mr. Miller, with local companies creating just 900 more jobs as compared to the year before. There were 900 jobs lost in construction, 2,100 in manufacturing and 1,100 in retail.

If a "mild" recession hits this year, Mr. Miller said the Pittsburgh area may do worse than the rest of the country, "as we have this year long before there was any talk of a recession." But "if the U.S. recession is really bad, we could end up doing better simply because we have less to lose."

One positive is that subprime mortgage defaults roiling other parts of the country are not a large economic factor here. Banks and financial-services firms certainly are not exempt from the housing meltdown -- Cleveland-based National City has laid off 3,400 people, although "a minimal amount" of those losses came from the Pittsburgh area, where it employs about 3,000. There have also been layoffs among the smaller companies that service mortgages, many of which are based along the Parkway West.

But PNC Financial Services Group, Pittsburgh's largest bank, has largely avoided the subprime mess, save for a fourth-quarter revision in earnings that took some analysts by surprise. In fact, PNC spokesman Brian Goerke said the company is currently trying to fill "several hundred" open positions across the company, from its branches to a call center to wealth management. Also, the bank has doubled its recruiting at top-tier colleges.

"I would characterize it as business as usual," Mr. Goerke said.

Retail is always a concern in any downturn, as businesses worry about consumer spending in a consumer-driven economy. But "retailers are usually the first to recover in a recession," argued Jeff Hennion, executive vice president and chief marketing officer Findlay-based Dick's Sporting Goods Inc.

Evidence of optimism at the sporting goods chain is the continued work on plans to expand the company's office space with new facilities near the Pittsburgh International Airport. Also, company officials have been trying to get the message out that they've always been conservative in their projections and haven't changed a goal of 15 percent store unit growth annually. In fact, the company recently raised its quarterly earnings guidance.

"Our business does not fluctuate nearly as much as others with the economy," said Mr. Hennion, noting that families consistently replace the equipment kids outgrow year to year.

Also confident is PPG Industries, where officials believe their worldwide paints, glass and chemicals operations are balanced enough to weather an economic slowdown in 2008. Europe and Asia are both priorities for the $11 billion company, and no changes in strategy are expected.

"Our global footprint is pretty well diversified ... if there is a falloff in the U.S., we're somewhat insulated from that," said William Hernandez, PPG's chief financial officer.

PPG makes paints for both residential and commercial applications; so while the U.S. housing market may be floundering, "commercial construction is still fairly strong and that's where our primary emphasis is," he said.

As a supplier of glass and paint to the automobile industry, PPG expects to offset a downturn in new car sales with strong sales for so-called aftermarket products, including parts and repairs. And its $3.2 billion purchase of Dutch paints maker SigmaKalon Group is expected to grow its coatings business by 40 percent.

Several other companies heavily dependent on overseas markets remain upbeat about their performance, recession or no recession, citing the surge in global demand for their products.

"Buoyant economies in India and China and their appetite for polymers are translating into record export volumes and strong profitability for us," said spokesman Greg Wilkinson of Moon-based Nova Chemicals Corp. "We're very optimistic about '08."

And the current turmoil has "no impact" on the ambitious expansion of Westinghouse Electric Co., designer of nuclear power plants, said Westinghouse spokesman Vaughn Gilbert.

"Our hiring plans and timetable remain intact."

Westinghouse is preparing a new 920,000-square-foot headquarters in Cranberry and planning to add 1,000-2,000 more local employees over the next five years as it races to keep up with global demand for its reactors, especially in China.

"I have no reason to think the Chinese are about to turn off their projects," said Mr. Briem, the Pitt economist. And "I believe most Westinghouse job projections ... err on the conservative side if the anticipated trend in the global nuclear industry expands as expected."

One technology firm convinced of its worldwide approach in the face of a possible U.S. recession is Ansys, the 1,400-person technology outfit in Cecil. It draws no more than 20 percent of its revenues from any single industry and 60 percent of all sales from abroad.

Thus, the belief is that "we're a little more recession-resistant than perhaps some other companies," said Ms. Shields, Ansys' chief financial officer.