diff --git a/gnu/compression.scm b/gnu/compression.scm
index 0418e80a15..6e48de5979 100644
--- a/gnu/compression.scm
+++ b/gnu/compression.scm
@@ -56,7 +56,8 @@ (define %compressors
                     ;; The default level 3 compresses better than gzip in a
                     ;; fraction of the time, while the highest level 19
                     ;; (de)compresses more slowly and worse than xz.
-                    #~(list #+(file-append zstd "/bin/zstd") "-3"))
+                    #~(list #+(file-append zstd "/bin/zstd") "-3"
+                            (format #f "--threads=~a" (parallel-job-count))))
         (compressor "none" "" #f)))
 
 (define (lookup-compressor name)