diff --git a/gcc/cobol/util.cc b/gcc/cobol/util.cc
index 81a877745dad7692bf6262d2555bcf12b933abdf..2529254d315c861df60feb8ac0999a032a8c59d0 100644
--- a/gcc/cobol/util.cc
+++ b/gcc/cobol/util.cc
@@ -524,7 +524,7 @@ symbol_field_type_update( cbl_field_t *field,
       // set the type
       field->type = candidate;
       if( field->data.capacity == 0 ) {
-        static const cbl_field_data_t data = {0, 16, 32, 0,
+        static const cbl_field_data_t data = {0, 8, 0, 0,
                                               NULL, NULL, {NULL}, {NULL}};
         field->data = data;
         field->attr &= ~ signable_e;