Ever since the passage of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, the lines historically used to separate "vocational" and "academic" students have blurred. This shift away from vocational education toward career and technical education (CTE) has come with many promising educational outcomes. CTE course taking has been associated with increased graduation rates and decreased dropout rates. High school participation in CTE courses has also been linked to numerous labor market outcomes in the short term, such as increased rates of employment and higher average wages. However, the long-term economic returns to CTE and the degree to which CTE course taking correlate with local labor market demands have been less clear. This report seeks to address the important though unexplored relationship between the CTE courses students complete in high school and their surrounding labor market characteristics. Using national data from the National Center for Education Statistics and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the author investigates the extent to which high school CTE course taking aligns with employment rates in CTE jobs, how the relationship between CTE course taking and labor markets has evolved over time, and whether students who aspire to a bachelor's degree enroll in CTE courses in response to employment rates more than students who do not aspire to a bachelor's degree. Findings from the data analysis indicate that modern CTE coursework is associated with rates of employment in students' local areas, that this relationship has potentially strengthened over time, and that baccalaureate aspirations do not necessarily affect the number of CTE credits students take in high school. In light of these data, policymakers should note that CTE appears to be less of a tracking mechanism today than vocational education has been in the past and that the process of aligning CTE course taking with labor markets requires updated, local labor market data that include both current and projected figures.