diff --git a/Lib/sysconfig.py b/Lib/sysconfig.py
index d70088039c987a..95b48f6429d5f8 100644
--- a/Lib/sysconfig.py
+++ b/Lib/sysconfig.py
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ def joinuser(*args):
             'stdlib': '{userbase}/{platlibdir}/python{py_version_short}',
             'platstdlib': '{userbase}/{platlibdir}/python{py_version_short}',
             'purelib': '{userbase}/lib/python{py_version_short}/site-packages',
-            'platlib': '{userbase}/{platlibdir}/python{py_version_short}/site-packages',
+            'platlib': '{userbase}/lib/python{py_version_short}/site-packages',
             'include': '{userbase}/include/python{py_version_short}',
             'scripts': '{userbase}/bin',
             'data': '{userbase}',
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-08-07-22-51-32.bpo-44860.PTvRrU.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-08-07-22-51-32.bpo-44860.PTvRrU.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..70e0be0dab40c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-08-07-22-51-32.bpo-44860.PTvRrU.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Fix the ``posix_user`` scheme in :mod:`sysconfig` to not depend on
+:data:`sys.platlibdir`.