diff --git a/src/slurmctld/step_mgr.c b/src/slurmctld/step_mgr.c
index 1962906974c6b69ad9a8080f5ff01def15b56a1f..2d1e8ee8a142486b3eca64d91a0f7b322f8bd197 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/step_mgr.c
+++ b/src/slurmctld/step_mgr.c
@@ -2501,7 +2501,7 @@ step_create(job_step_create_request_msg_t *step_specs,
 		else
 			step_ptr->step_id = job_ptr->next_step_id++;
 		job_ptr->next_step_id = MAX(job_ptr->next_step_id,
-					    step_ptr->step_id++);
+					    step_ptr->step_id);
 	} else {
 		step_ptr->step_id = job_ptr->next_step_id++;
 	}