diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/hooks/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/hooks/default.nix
index 705db5268281..c61cd77fc7ec 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/hooks/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/hooks/default.nix
@@ -195,6 +195,8 @@ in {
       propagatedBuildInputs = [ setuptools wheel ];
       substitutions = {
         inherit pythonInterpreter setuppy;
+        # python2.pkgs.setuptools does not support parallelism
+        setuptools_has_parallel = setuptools != null && lib.versionAtLeast setuptools.version "69";
       };
     } ./setuptools-build-hook.sh) {};
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/hooks/setuptools-build-hook.sh b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/hooks/setuptools-build-hook.sh
index 7b5111d7f342..4c63a18eca43 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/hooks/setuptools-build-hook.sh
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/python/hooks/setuptools-build-hook.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ echo "Sourcing setuptools-build-hook"
 
 setuptoolsBuildPhase() {
     echo "Executing setuptoolsBuildPhase"
-    local args
+    local args setuptools_has_parallel=@setuptools_has_parallel@
     runHook preBuild
 
     cp -f @setuppy@ nix_run_setup
@@ -12,7 +12,9 @@ setuptoolsBuildPhase() {
         args+="$setupPyGlobalFlags"
     fi
     if [ -n "$enableParallelBuilding" ]; then
-        setupPyBuildFlags+=" --parallel $NIX_BUILD_CORES"
+        if [ -n "$setuptools_has_parallel" ]; then
+            setupPyBuildFlags+=" --parallel $NIX_BUILD_CORES"
+        fi
     fi
     if [ -n "$setupPyBuildFlags" ]; then
         args+=" build_ext $setupPyBuildFlags"