Layoffs, bankruptcies, plummeting stock prices and a credit crisis have dominated the headlines, but not everyone is mired in an economic slump.

Some local employers in fields such as renewable energy, private education, health care, aerospace and engineering are actually hanging help- wanted signs.

The economy may be in a recession, "but there are businesses doing just fine, thank you," said Rick Fort, chief executive of Education Sales Management.

Fort's company, which helps mostly for-profit schools like Argosy University enroll and retain students, has grown to 600 employees from 466 employees at the end of last year. Next year, the Highlands Ranch-based company anticipates adding more than 200 call-center jobs, which could pay between $13 and $20 an hour.

"When people are out of work, they tend to go back to school to get retooled," he said.

Education Sales Management's revenue has risen by roughly 30 percent this year, he said, and is expected to increase at roughly the same clip in 2009, although he acknowledged that the future is hard to predict.

Among the other Colorado anomalies in hiring mode are Ascent Solar Technologies, Merrick & Co., Lockheed Martin, Kaiser Permanente, Vestas and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden.

Ascent Solar, which bought a facility in Thornton early this year, hopes by 2010 to begin commercial production of so-called thin- film modules that eventually could be used in building materials to generate solar energy.

The company's staff has risen gradually to roughly 60. Ascent Solar said in a recent regulatory filing that it plans to add workers in 2009, mainly in manufacturing, business development and sales and marketing.

Still, "in this economy, you cannot be conservative enough," said spokesman Brian Blackman.

Jobs will surface as Colorado puts more emphasis on wind power, solar energy and biofuels. The National Renewable Energy Lab plans to hire 200 to 300 people - mainly scientists, analysts, engineers and a few communications staffers - this fiscal year.

Danish wind energy company Vestas also is making a significant investment in Colorado.

Higher jobless rate likely

Colorado has fared better than most places, although some economists expect the state to follow the country into a recession in 2009. Declining consumer confidence, credit and housing woes and stock market turmoil affect Colorado like every other state.

The University of Colorado's Leeds School of Business predicts the state's jobless rate next year will surge to 6.4 percent compared with 5.0 percent in 2008.