diff --git a/build-root/Makefile b/build-root/Makefile
index d810abb8626..4a675d6019b 100644
--- a/build-root/Makefile
+++ b/build-root/Makefile
@@ -653,12 +653,10 @@ configure_check_timestamp =						\
 # NB: GNU Make 4.2 will let us use '$(file </proc/cpuinfo)' to both test
 # for file presence and content; for now this will have to do.
 ifndef MAKE_PARALLEL_JOBS
-MAKE_PARALLEL_JOBS = -j $(if $(shell [ -f /proc/cpuinfo ] && head /proc/cpuinfo), \
+MAKE_PARALLEL_JOBS = $(if $(shell [ -f /proc/cpuinfo ] && head /proc/cpuinfo), \
 	$(shell grep -c ^processor /proc/cpuinfo), 2)
-else
-MAKE_PARALLEL_JOBS := -j $(MAKE_PARALLEL_JOBS)
 endif
-MAKE_PARALLEL_FLAGS ?= $(if $($(PACKAGE)_make_parallel_fails),,$(MAKE_PARALLEL_JOBS))
+MAKE_PARALLEL_FLAGS ?= $(if $($(PACKAGE)_make_parallel_fails),,-j $(MAKE_PARALLEL_JOBS))
 
 # Make command shorthand for packages & tools.
 PACKAGE_MAKE =					\