diff --git a/opal/mca/pmix/pmix112/pmix1_client.c b/opal/mca/pmix/pmix112/pmix1_client.c
index 21d64fc7de..97bb2c0786 100644
--- a/opal/mca/pmix/pmix112/pmix1_client.c
+++ b/opal/mca/pmix/pmix112/pmix1_client.c
@@ -120,6 +120,8 @@ int pmix1_client_init(void)
         /* we were launched by someone else, so make the
          * jobid just be the hash of the nspace */
         OPAL_HASH_STR(my_proc.nspace, pname.jobid);
+        /* keep it from being negative */
+        pname.jobid &= ~(0x8000);
     }
     /* insert this into our list of jobids - it will be the
      * first, and so we'll check it first */
diff --git a/opal/mca/pmix/pmix120/pmix120_client.c b/opal/mca/pmix/pmix120/pmix120_client.c
index ba2e5ae14f..8900ef2012 100644
--- a/opal/mca/pmix/pmix120/pmix120_client.c
+++ b/opal/mca/pmix/pmix120/pmix120_client.c
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@ int pmix120_client_init(void)
         /* we were launched by someone else, so make the
          * jobid just be the hash of the nspace */
         OPAL_HASH_STR(my_proc.nspace, pname.jobid);
+        /* keep it from being negative */
+        pname.jobid &= ~(0x8000);
     }
     /* insert this into our list of jobids - it will be the
      * first, and so we'll check it first */