diff --git a/tokio-threadpool/src/pool/mod.rs b/tokio-threadpool/src/pool/mod.rs
index eb48e3498..bb9fd6a25 100644
--- a/tokio-threadpool/src/pool/mod.rs
+++ b/tokio-threadpool/src/pool/mod.rs
@@ -397,7 +397,8 @@ impl Pool {
         });
 
         if let Err(e) = res {
-            warn!("failed to spawn worker thread; err={:?}", e);
+            error!("failed to spawn worker thread; err={:?}", e);
+            panic!("failed to spawn worker thread: {:?}", e);
         }
     }