diff --git a/src/common/libjobspec/jobspec.cpp b/src/common/libjobspec/jobspec.cpp
index e40591091bd3..24b8ff9e432a 100644
--- a/src/common/libjobspec/jobspec.cpp
+++ b/src/common/libjobspec/jobspec.cpp
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ void parse_yaml_count (Resource& res, const YAML::Node &cnode)
     res.count.oper = cnode["operator"].as<char>();
     switch (res.count.oper) {
     case '+':
-    case '-':
+    case '*':
     case '^':
         break;
     default: