diff --git a/tc.prompt.c b/tc.prompt.c
index 65066f1..e86499b 100644
--- a/tc.prompt.c
+++ b/tc.prompt.c
@@ -538,13 +538,19 @@ tprintf(int what, const Char *fmt, const char *str, time_t tim, ptr_t info)

            case 'j':
                {
-                   int njobs = -1;
+                   int njobs = 0;
                    struct process *pp;

-                   for (pp = proclist.p_next; pp; pp = pp->p_next)
-                       njobs++;
-                   if (njobs == -1)
-                       njobs++;
+                   /* this counts jobs which haven't been "reaped" yet, but
+                      unless you've just run kill -9 %1, it shouldn't be an issue */
+                   for (pp = proclist.p_next; pp; pp = pp->p_next) {
+                       if (pp->p_index > 0 && pp->p_index <= pmaxindex
+                               && pp->p_procid == pp->p_jobid)
+                       {
+                           ++njobs;
+                       }
+                   }
+
                    p = Itoa(njobs, 1, attributes);
                    Strbuf_append(&buf, p);
                    xfree(p);