A diverse (or balanced) economy is generally considered a stable economy. A loose rationalization would center upon an economy that is not prone to bouts of boom or bust, an economy that can withstand misfortunes in particular industries as others thrive, an economy that largely rides an even keel.
The idea is to avoid over-dependence, or specialization, within one or two industries. To borrow a simple idiom as an illustration, “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” The lesson is if you drop your basket you might break all your eggs. However, if you were to spread your eggs across several baskets, then if you drop a basket you still have eggs available in the other baskets. The same concept works when evaluating an economy. If too much employment and economic dependence is placed upon one industry and that industry comes on hard times, the entire economic system correspondingly suffers.
A balanced economy would have a diverse share of employment spread across various industries, and the industries would not be so tied together that they are overly dependent upon a core industry. If one industry were to falter, the others would help keep the overall economy afloat.
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