diff --git a/check_cronstatus b/check_cronstatus
index e2f579f6fde48208e5286a364ff47efeef246600..dbf99d8a3584186eb76b6b648e40680530a3f7c7 100755
--- a/check_cronstatus
+++ b/check_cronstatus
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ done
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 if [ -f $errfile ]; then
-  iErrJobs=$(wc -l $errfile)
+  iErrJobs=$(wc -l $errfile | cut -f 1)
   echo "ERROR: $iErrJobs of $iJobs jobs [`cat $failfile | sed ':a;N;$!ba;s/\n/, /g'`] have a problem"
   echo
   echo "********** Jobs with problems:"