parallel_backend is used in BatchedCalls to set the default nested backend, and its default behavior is to set n_jobs=-1.
from joblib import Parallel, delayed
def test():
parallel = Parallel()
print(parallel._backend)
print(parallel.n_jobs)
Parallel(n_jobs=2)(delayed(test)() for _ in range(1))
Output
backend: <class 'joblib._parallel_backends.ThreadingBackend'>
n_jobs: -1