diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-pip/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-pip/package.py
index 7a41d6caa5..234601a8ee 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-pip/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-pip/package.py
@@ -34,4 +34,7 @@ class PyPip(PythonPackage):
     version('9.0.1', '35f01da33009719497f01a4ba69d63c9')
 
     depends_on('python@2.6:2.7,3.3:')
-    depends_on('py-setuptools', type='build')
+
+    # Most Python packages only require setuptools as a build dependency.
+    # However, pip requires setuptools during runtime as well.
+    depends_on('py-setuptools', type=('build', 'run'))